If you are experiencing issues with activating Server Check or getting Server Check to make a successful connection to some sites and servers, and yet connecting to other sites works perfectly, it is very likely that you are running an older legacy Windows operating system that does not (by default) use newer TLS protocols to make connections. Some sites and servers will still accept these connections, whilst other (more secure) sites will not.
Server Check uses the built-in SChannel component of Windows to communicate and connect. Some older versions of Windows, for example, Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2, do not enable TLS protocols by default and use older SSL protocols instead. We highly recommend upgrading your operating system to the latest version of Windows to benefit from the best security and compatibility with Server Check.
However, it is possible to enable more secure TLS protocols in Windows 7/Server 2008 R2 by following these steps:
Enable TLS 1.1 and 1.2 on Windows 7/Server 2008 R2 at the SChannel component level
For TLS 1.1 and 1.2 to be enabled and negotiated on Windows 7/Server 2008 R2, you MUST create the “DisabledByDefault” entry in the appropriate subkey (Client) and set it to “0”. These subkeys will not be created in the registry by default, since these protocols are disabled by default.
Create the necessary subkeys for TLS 1.1 and 1.2; create the DisabledByDefault DWORD values and set it to 0 in the following locations:
For TLS 1.1
Registry location:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SecurityProviders\SCHANNEL\Protocols\TLS 1.1\Client
DWORD name: DisabledByDefault
DWORD value: 0
For Server 2008 R2, create an extra DWORD value:
DWORD name: Enabled
DWORD value: 1
For TLS 1.2
Registry location:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SecurityProviders\SCHANNEL\Protocols\TLS 1.2\Client
DWORD name: DisabledByDefault
DWORD value: 0
For Server 2008 R2, create an extra DWORD value:
DWORD name: Enabled
DWORD value: 1