Fix the macOS Sequoia “Safari Can’t Open the Page” Issue
Since updating to macOS Sequoia, I have had nothing but trouble with Safari loading pages intermittently. I keep getting the “Safari Can’t Open the Page” error, stating that “the server unexpectedly dropped the connection”.
The same URL will load without issues on other browser, like Brave and Firefox. At first I thought it was due to Apple’s Private Relay that has sometimes been flaky. But turning it off didn’t fix the issue. I’ve even tried removing the adblocking extension and it wasn’t the issue. I even thought it was some issues with my DNS settings on my router. But all these didn’t make sense since other devices are working just fine.
The real culprit: VPN and Firewall apps
I use NordVPN and Lulu for my VPN and firewall needs. When you upgrade to macOS Sequoia, any pre-existing VPN or network filtering configuration will mess with the connections. For some reason, this seems to affect Safari browser more than any other browsers. What’s weird is that this problem happens intermittently therefore it took me a while to link the ongoing issues of network scanning solutions to this problem.
Fixing the macOS Sequoia “Safari Can’t Open the Page” issue
Step 1: Uninstall all VPN and Firewall apps.
You can just delete apps to uninstall them on macOS. Some apps may include cleanup scripts when for macOS to run when the app is deleted, but I would always use AppCleaner to ensure any other related files and folders are also removed when deleting an app. I highly recommend installing AppCleaner in my macOS setup guide here too.
Once uninstalled, you should no longer see any the VPN settings and any Filters active. If you do see any, don’t worry, we can move on to the next step and remove any orphaned settings that’s been left behind.
Step 2: Remove all orphaned VPN and Network Filters settings
When I removed both NordVPN, the VPN settings was deleted properly. However, if you still find your VPN configuration left orphaned, you can remove it by clicking on the information icon (the i in circle) and then click on the Remove Configuration button.
Next, remove any Filters that’s left behind. The screenshot shows the Lulu one. It was actually removed correctly when I uninstalled it. But for me, I had an old orphaned Little Snitch filter extension that I no longer use.
Step 3: Reinstall your VPN and Firewall app
At this point, it’s best to also do a quick check for the latest version of the VPN and firewall app you use to make sure it works well with macOS Sequoia. I had no trouble with NordVPN after reinstalling it. Interestingly, NordVPN no longer creates a VPN configuration on macOS. It just works as a standalone app. It does not seem to install a network extension as well.
Reinstalling Lulu was a bit of a challenge. macOS Sequoia seems to have changed how Network Extensions are manually enabled. In the past, you would get a prompt to enable it from the Privacy and Security settings.
Now, you actually have to go to Settings -> General -> Login Items and Extensions. The scroll down to the Extensions section and there you will find all the Network Extensions that needs to be enabled. Click on the i icon and you will see all the network extensions that has been installed. It took me quite a while to try and figure where this settings was!
Also, if you find any orphaned Network extensions at this point, remove them.
Then when staring up Lulu for the first time, you will get the prompt to allow it to start filtering the network traffic. Once done, you will see the Network Filter configuration in Settings and Lulu will work as expected again!
So far so good! No more “Safari Can’t Open the Page” error.
Honestly, I’m not sure really fixed the issue. I suspect it’s actually NordVPN’s configuration that is causing the problem. Safari was probably trying to connect to the VPN on demand and failing to do so intermittently. But the weird part is that when I am running NordVPN to check if that was the issue, the problem still occurs. I was also sure it wasn’t Lulu since it was working as expected when I ran a few new apps on my macOS since the Sequoia upgrade. Was it the orphaned Little Snitch network extension? It should not be too since that would have bugged out my macOS consistently.
So while I could not replicate this again, I will just leave it as it is and rest my case. If you are also facing this problem, I hope you can get it fixed too as this did for me.
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