Fix: reCAPTCHA Not Working – Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Safari

When reCAPTCHA doesn’t work, you’ll see an error message along the lines of ‘We can’t process your request right now.’ This happens when your PC or IP is suspected of sending automated/unusual traffic.

Fixing reCAPTCHA is generally quite simple. Updating your browser or resetting your IP Address will do the trick in most cases. Read our guide for step-by-step instructions for these and more ways to fix reCAPTCHA not working error.

Why Is reCAPTCHA Not Working In My Browser?

How to Fix reCAPTCHA Not Working?

The easiest way to get reCAPTCHA to work again is to update your browser. According to Google, reCAPTCHA is only supported on the latest versions of Chrome, Firefox, Edge, and Safari. Restarting your browser, PC, router, and using antivirus software are some good general practices for most errors. Once you’ve checked these off your list, let’s get right into the details for how to fix reCAPTCHA not working in Windows.

Update Your Browser

For desktop users (Windows, Mac, Linux), reCAPTCHA supports the two most recent major versions of Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Chromium Edge, and Safari browsers. If you haven’t updated in a while, the process to do so is very simple.

For Chrome users,

1. Type chrome://settings/help into the URL bar and press Enter.
2. Chrome will automatically check for updates and update if necessary on the About Chrome page.

For Firefox users,

1. Press the three strokes icon to open the application menu at the top right.
2. Click on Help > About Firefox at the bottom.
   
3. Firefox will automatically check for updates and update if necessary in the new window.

For Edge users,

1. Type edge://settings/help into the URL bar and press Enter.
2. Edge will automatically check for updates and update if necessary on the About Edge page.

For Safari users,

1. Click the Apple logo from the top left to open the Apple menu.
2. Open System Preferences.
3. Press Software Update > Update Now. If you don’t see Software Update under System Preferences, use the App Store instead to update Safari.
   
4. Follow the instructions on-screen and install any updates available.

Remove Problematic Browser Extensions

Extensions, plug-ins, and add-ons can take your browsing experience to the next level. But buggy ones can also interfere with the browser’s normal functionality.

If reCAPTCHA stopped working around the time you installed a new extension, you should try disabling or removing it. Once you do, restart your browser and check for changes.

For Chrome users,

1. Type chrome://extensions into the URL bar and press Enter.
2. Press the slider to disable or the remove button to remove any extensions you suspect.
   

For Firefox users,

1. Type about: addons into the URL bar and press Enter.
2. Scan through your extensions and disable or remove any shady ones.
3. Go to the Plugins tab from the left and do the same here.

For Edge users,

1. Type edge://extensions into the URL bar and press Enter.
2. Look through the list and disable or remove any suspicious extensions.

For Safari users,

1. Choose Safari > Preferences and click on Extensions.
2. Unselect the checkbox to disable an extension or select and press uninstall to remove it.

Reset Browser Profiles and Settings

Browser profiles store search history, bookmarks, passwords, extensions, and other settings. A corrupt browser profile can stop reCAPTCHA from functioning properly. Unlike Chrome, Firefox and Edge, Safari doesn’t have individual browser profiles. So this fix doesn’t apply to Safari users.

If resetting browser profiles doesn’t work, you should try resetting your browser to factory settings.

To reset Browser Profile in Chrome,

1. Close Google Chrome.
2. Press CTRL + Shift + Esc to open Task Manager.
3. Select Chrome processes from the list and click End Task to stop each one.
4. Press Windows + R to open Run.
5. Type in %appdata% and press Enter.
6. Navigate to Local > Google > Chrome > User Data.
7. Right-click the Default folder and rename it to Default Old. It’ll create a new Default folder now and a new browser profile as a result.
   
8. Open Chrome load the web page you were unable to access before.

To reset Chrome settings to default,

1. Type chrome://settings/reset into the URL bar and press Enter.
2. Click Restore settings to their original defaults.
3. Press Reset Settings.
   

To reset Browser Profile in Firefox,

1. Type about:profiles into the URL bar and press Enter.
2. Press the Create a New Profile button.
3. Click on Next and enter a new profile name.
4. Select Choose Folder if you want to create a new location to store user data for this profile
5. Click on Finish.
6. Restart Firefox and check if reCAPTCHA is working with the new profile.

To reset Firefox settings to default,

1. Type about:support into the URL bar and press Enter.
2. Press the Refresh Firefox button on the right.
3. Click Refresh Firefox again at the new window.

To reset Browser Profile in Edge,

1. Click on the three dots at the top right and select Settings towards the bottom.
2. Press the Add Profile button at the top right.
3. Press Add in the pop-up window to create a new profile. You can switch profiles from edge://settings/profiles.
4. A new browser window will open. Try accessing the web page from here.

To reset Edge settings to default,

1. Type edge://settings/resetProfileSettings into the URL bar and press Enter.
2. Click on Reset.

To reset Safari to factory settings,

1. In the Safari menu, choose Preferences.
2. Click the Privacy button at the top of the new window that appears.
3. Press the Remove All Website Data button.

Reset Your Network

If the above fixes didn’t help, the issue likely lies with your network connection rather than with your browser. If your IP address is flagged as suspicious by the Content Delivery Network (CDN), you’ll need a new IP to work around this. To reset your IP in Windows

1. Press Windows + R to open Run.
2. Type cmd and press CTRL + Shift + Enter to open the elevated command prompt.
3. Type the following commands and press Enter after each one:
   ipconfig /release
 ipconfig /flushdns
 ipconfig /renew
 netsh int ip reset
 netsh winsock reset
   

To renew your IP Address in Mac,

1. Click the Apple logo on the top left and open System Preferences.
2. Go to Network Options and choose your active Wi-Fi connection.
3. Go to Advanced > TCP/IP.
4. Click on Renew DHCP Lease to renew your IP Address.
   

Change DNS Server Address

Domain Name System (DNS) converts domain names (google.com) into computer-understandable forms i.e. IP Addresses. Try using a custom DNS Server Address such as Google’s free Public DNS to fix reCAPTCHA.

1. Press Windows + R to open Run.
2. Type ncpa.cpl and press Enter.
3. Right-click your active Wi-Fi connection and press the Properties button.
4. Highlight Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) by clicking on it. Next, press the properties button.
5. Click on Use the following DNS server addresses.
   
6. In the preferred DNS server box, enter: 8.8.8.8
7. In the alternate DNS server box, enter: 8.8.4.4
8. Press OK to apply changes.

Disable VPN / Proxy Server

When you use a Virtual Private Network (VPN), you’ll encounter more reCAPTCHAs than usual as the VPN’s IP address is likely flagged as suspicious. Normally it’s not a problem, but in some cases, the reCAPTCHA can stop functioning properly due to this. 

Try disconnecting your VPN temporarily. With most VPNs, you can do this by right-clicking their icon from the taskbar (bottom right) and pressing Turn off/Exit/Stop Service.

To stop using your proxy server,

1. Press Windows + R to launch Run.
2. Type control and press Enter to open the Control Panel.
3. Click on Network and Internet > Internet Options.
4. Switch to the Connections tab and open LAN Settings.
5. Uncheck ‘Use a proxy’ and press OK.
   
6. Test if you can load the reCAPTCHA properly now.

Scan Your PC for Malware

Malware is a common cause of reCAPTCHA errors. We recommend using Windows Defender or some third-party antivirus to protect your PC. To scan your PC using Windows Defender,

1. Search Virus and Threat Protection through the search bar and press Enter.
2. Press Quick Scan and clear any threats found.
   
3. Next, open your browser and check if the reCAPTCHA works now.

If you’re using an antivirus, real-time protection is likely already ON. To perform a quick scan, right-click it’s icon from the taskbar (bottom right) at click ‘Scan your PC.’