Error: Spdesign.exe has been denied access to or there is no server on port 443 at .

Today one of my client reported with an issue while browseing some of the SharePoint sites using designer. Accessing sites using SharePoint gives the below error messages. 

Error: Spdesign.exe has been denied access to

 

Clicking Ok produces another error message as below.

Error: There is no server on port 443 at . You have selected the Connect using SSL Option. This connections problem may indicate that the server does not support Secure Socket Layer (SSL) communications, or that it uses SSL communications on a different port number.

 

I was clue less for the issue at the start since the sites were browseable using https//….. Protocol. So I started the troubleshooting based on the troubleshooting related to NIC card, VPN connection suspicion, SSL port disability (prompting for making calls server at 443 ports) from windows firewall. 

Tried to compare the SPD versions on the different machine where it was working not working and didn’t found any issue.

Tried to clear SPD Cache clearance by using the following steps:

1. Close SharePoint Designer.

2. Open My Computer.

3. Go to %System Drive%\Documents and Settings\%user%\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\WebSiteCache. 

4. Delete all folders and files there.

5. Open the site using SPD and we still has the issue. 

On further checking for proxy used by SharePoint designer I noticed that actual issue was related to the wrong proxy usage with Designer.

The proxy was not configuring to make connection to the server using Secure Socket Layer at port 443. By changing the proxy settings in Designer we were able to access all of the sites using designer.

Steps to change Proxy using Designer. 

1. Open SharePoint Designer. 

2. Go to tools -> Application Options.

3.On General tab choose to click Proxy Settings. And change the proxy with is configured to use the SSL over http protocol. 

By changing the proxy for the client, we were able to open the sites from the SharePoint Designer. 

Note: This Proxy settings can also be configured via IE and you may be prompted to provide credentials to open the site for the first time in Designer. 

If you have any issue or query please do let me know, I would be more happy to help you answer.