article How to create Browser Monitor that does not ignore certificate errors in Troubleshooting

How to create Browser Monitor that does not ignore certificate errors

HannahM — Tue, 13 Jan 2026 17:53:25 GMT

Summary: By default, browser monitors are executed in a Chrome browser that ignores certificate errors. However, in some scenarios, you may want your browser monitor to fail if a certificate error occurs.

These steps will work for all location types: public, private, and cluster.

Resolution

How to create a Browser Monitor that does not ignore certificate errors

Go to Synthetic in the Dynatrace Classic menu.
Select Create a synthetic monitor in the top right > Create a browser monitor.
On the Configure a browser monitor page, type in the URL you want to monitor and either use the default Name or provide your own.
Select Script Mode
Add the following to the configuration section under chromiumStartupFlags
"ignore-certificate-errors": false
Add any further steps required
Choose Next to continue configuration—select monitor locations and frequency. See Configure browser monitors for details.
Select Next at the bottom of the page to view the monitor summary.
On the Summary page, you can review and change your configuration (Change URL or name; Change configuration).
At the bottom of the page, select Create browser monitor.

Update a Browser Monitor to not ignore certificate errors

Go to Synthetic in the Dynatrace Classic menu.
Select the browser monitor you want to configure.
Select Edit from the quick links to go to monitor settings. Alternatively, you can go to the Synthetic monitors page, select the checkbox next to the monitor you want to edit, and select Edit at the bottom of the page.
Select Recorded Clickpath , if it's a Browser Clickpath monitor, or Monitor Script
Select Script Mode
Add the following to the configuration section under chromiumStartupFlags
"ignore-certificate-errors": false
Select Save Changes

What's Next

Get advanced warning of a certificate expiring

If you would like to be warned in advance of the certificate's expiry, you can use the HTTP Monitor SSL Certificate expiry option.
https://www.dynatrace.com/support/help/platform-modules/digital-experience/synthetic-monitoring/http-monitors/configure-http-monitors#http-additional-options

Further troubleshooting

If you still need assistance, open a chat or support ticket and provide a link to the affected monitor and explain what your are trying to do and what you have already tried.

What to read next:

Synthetic Troubleshooting Map

Synthetic Browser Monitor Error Codes

Re: How to create Browser Monitor that does not ignore certificate errors

ChadTurner — Thu, 17 Aug 2023 17:46:09 GMT

Thank you for Sharing this @HannahM

Re: How to create Browser Monitor that does not ignore certificate errors

AntonioSousa — Thu, 15 Feb 2024 00:14:56 GMT

@HannahM,

I confess I'm a little bit confused here, and not what I was expecting: by default, a Chrome Browser does not ignore cert errors, but indeed tries that the user not proceed to a site with an invalid cert.

This implies that sites with a self-signed, invalid CA or whatever invalid cert may be out there, do not give an error by default in browser monitors?

Re: How to create Browser Monitor that does not ignore certificate errors

HannahM — Thu, 15 Feb 2024 18:03:50 GMT

For Browser monitors, we start the Browser with the

--ignore-certificate-errors

parameter. This does indeed ignore certificate errors.

Re: How to create Browser Monitor that does not ignore certificate errors

AntonioSousa — Thu, 15 Feb 2024 18:42:46 GMT

@HannahM,

Thanks for the clarification. If asked before, I would certainly not have said it worked this way 😁 But I do understand why it's done this way...

Re: How to create Browser Monitor that does not ignore certificate errors

lsantos — Mon, 09 Jun 2025 16:07:35 GMT

Hello everyone,

I'm in need for such feature (i.e. I want the synthetic to fail if there are any certificate issues).

I've added the suggested flag but the synthetic is still not failing even tough there are certificate issues...

Anyone had success with this setup?

Thanks 🙂

Re: How to create Browser Monitor that does not ignore certificate errors

HannahM — Mon, 16 Jun 2025 12:55:51 GMT

@lsantos, thanks for letting us know. Did you resolve this issue? Changing the flag works for me. If this behavior is still seen for your monitor, can you create a support ticket for us to investigate? Thanks

Re: How to create Browser Monitor that does not ignore certificate errors

AlanZ — Thu, 26 Mar 2026 17:38:02 GMT

Hi,

We would like this to be the default for all browser monitors (new and existing). Is there a setting which would modify the default behavior so certificates are always validated for all our environment browser monitors unless otherwise specified ?

Re: How to create Browser Monitor that does not ignore certificate errors

HannahM — Tue, 14 Apr 2026 10:24:26 GMT

Hi Alan, unfortunately not, but it's a great idea. I recommend you add it here

Re: How to create Browser Monitor that does not ignore certificate errors

Julius_Loman — Tue, 14 Apr 2026 20:10:26 GMT

I disagree with this behaviour. Certificate validity must be checked by default, with the option of supplying your own list of CA certificates.
Disabling certificate validation must be an opt-in, not the other way around. When users create synthetic tests, they expect the test to behave exactly as it does in their real browser.

This is especially critical since the current option to turn off ignoring the errors is hidden and not exposed to the user in contrast to HTTP monitors.