Why does Safari keep saying "it can't connect to the server" every time I try to access any sites?

Hi Linc

I am facing the same problem. I followed both the tests (guest login as well as my own) and faced the same problem. Rebooting did not help. I am using OS X Yosemite version 10.10.5 so not very sure if the same procedure could have worked. Later, I tried your advice from the next post where you suggest to look for the OS X Utility screen, but I couldn't locate it. Then I went to the Utility <help< mac help < connect to the internet < go to a website in safari and tried opening the websites I have been unable to open. No luck! The same problem persists. I followed this second step on my own, an absolute guess work with no luck. I am a computer illiterate and very new to Mac. B/w I closed the turned off the filevault and made another guest account as I have activated Find my Iphone. So it wasn't the Guest user account but the newly created one.

Also, I do not think it can be the problem of the router as I tried connecting it to different routers/internet connections. I switched off this router too but to no avail.

To give you a broader picture; I am able to log into gmail, FB, youtube, but not my University website (www.jnu.ac.in) , newyorktimes webpage and many other webpages. I can google search a topic/term but unable to access the links any further. I face exactly the same problem on chrome and mozilla too. I thought of upgrading to El captain thinking it might help, but the link doesn't work citing the same problem ' safari can't connect to the server'. It was then I realised, that I am unable to access the apple discussion forum too.

I faced this problem after installing safari version 9.1 on 20th april and the security update version on 21st april. Other than this, the flash player from the systems preferences got uninstalled and I am unable to re-install it.

I have tried readjusting the date and time as well as clearing the cache and the web history and other such suggestions but nothing has helped yet.

Looking forward to hear from you.

Had the same problem tried both your solutions and it worked! Thanks!

Hello, I just want to share my experience with you guys, I had this problem for about 2 months on my macbook pro late 2012. Whenever I went to Safari about 95% of web pages said "Safari can't connect to the Server" I drove me crazy; the thing was, whenever I shared internet from my iPhone to my mac, this issue was solved and i was able to browse again. So logically I thought, this has got to be a problem with my router, but no other device connected to the router had any issues. I tried every solution offered at blogs, put the Google DNS servers on my Net Preferences, delete the location on my Net Preferences, among others I can't recall right now. Sorry I don't want to bore you but long story short: I clicked in the desktop (top left corner next to the apple logo now says Finder) > Go (fifth option next to the apple at the top left corner) > Go to Folder > Type in "/Library/LaunchDaemons" > Delete everything there is in that folder. Restart Computer.

Boom I can go to all my favorite sites again. Now I don't actually know what these files were but i copied them to another folder just in case. I post this because is a real pain in the S not being able to browse online but finally solved.

I don't think the issue is always a network problem - Safari 10 seems to have trouble opening pages from time to time, yet Chrome or Firefox do not. Also, my ping quality is excellent with no dropped packets.

In my case, maybe 1 in 20 pages will display this symptom with Safari 10 ... it previously did not really happen with Safari 9 (not as often).

Previously in Yosemite and El Captain, disabling DSN Caching seems to fix the problem:

defaults write com.apple.safari WebKitDNSPrefetchingEnabled -boolean false

When I am in Recovery Mode. I am able to visit the websites. But I am still not able to visit the websites when I. Out of recovery mode.