Internet Explorer Stops Responding When Connecting to an SSL-Enabled Web Site

ID: Q216719

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Internet Information Server versions 4.0, 5.0

SYMPTOMS

When you connect to an Internet Information Server (IIS) computer with Internet Explorer version 3.0 or later using SSL (HTTPS), the browser may appear to stop responding. The browser eventually displays the following error message:

Internet Explorer cannot open the Internet site https://sitename. The operation timed out

CAUSE

This problem may be related to an improperly set SSL port, or a malformed URL. The standard port for an SSL connection is port 443. When HTTPS is used in an Internet browser, port 443 is assumed. If your Web site is set to use a different port, then the user must specify the new port within the URL. If the port is incorrect, then the server is never really contacted, which produces this behavior.

RESOLUTION

The user's request should be formatted as follows (the SSL port is 230 in this example):

https://www.microsoft.com:230

In the case of a virtual directory in the request:

https://www.microsoft.com:230/vdir/resource.htm

Additional query words:


Keywords          : Ss3Sp1fix 
Version           : winnt:4.0,5.0
Platform          : winnt 
Issue type        : kbhowto

Last Reviewed: March 3, 1999