The problem started with the April 2018 Win10 1803 Feature Update and can also happen with fresh Windows installs that use 1803. It is an (unknown) artifact of how Windows is installed or updated. The 1803 update can cause a core Windows identity service (CryptSvc) to loop endlessly and stall connections. First verify you have the CryptSvc problem: - Before opening Chrome, open Edge If Chrome works OK, but only if Edge is also running -> this is very likely a CryptSvc issue. If not, you may have another problem. - To verify the CryptSvc loop explicitly start Chrome without Edge. while Chrome is stalled (and CryptSvc is looping), verify CryptSvc high CPU usage - it's normally quiet in Task Manager> Services, select CryptSvc, then right click for Details, (CryptSvc runs as an svchost task with matching PID) check the svchost CPU column, if > 2% , proceed with the registry repair. The problem can be fixed (temporarily) by restarting the CryptS