I’m developing a website locally (WSL) and using the Windows hosts file to map the real production domain (e.g., example.com) to 127.0.0.1.
My local site uses https:// links everywhere because the production version uses SSL.
To view the live (production) site, I comment out the relevant hosts entry:
#127.0.0.1 example.com
However, when I uncomment it and try to work on the local site, Chrome constantly blocks me with the following certificate error:
Your connection is not private
Attackers might be trying to steal your information from example.com (for example, passwords, messages, or credit cards). Learn more about this warning
NET::ERR_CERT_AUTHORITY_INVALID
I do not want to create or install local certificates — I’d prefer Chrome to just allow the connection without complaints.
I’ve already tried:
- Launching Chrome with the
--ignore-certificate-errorsflag:"C:Program FilesGoogleChromeApplicationchrome.exe" --ignore-certificate-errors(didn’t work) - Disabling Safe Browsing via
chrome://settings/securityby selecting “No protection (not recommended)”.
Nothing helped — Chrome keeps showing the certificate warning.
Is there a reliable way to suppress or bypass this error in Chrome for development purposes?
