Wordpress Jetpack

WordPress – Jetpack Unknown SSL Protocol Error

I have recently help a few people setup their own blogs. And one issue that seems to come up with WordPress, is when they try and connect Jetpack. For those that do not know about Jetpack, have a look here. Its basically a WordPress plugin that incorporates loads of features to help your self-hosted WordPress blog use the power of WordPress.com. I have only come across this issue when people self host their blogs.

So while setting it up, if you get something like this…

Jetpack could not contact WordPress.com: register_http_request_failed.

This usually means something is incorrectly configured on your web host.

Unknown SSL protocol error in connection to jetpack.wordpress.com:443

or

Jetpack could not contact WordPress.com: register_http_request_failed.

This usually means something is incorrectly configured on your web host.

SSL certificate problem: self signed certificate in certificate chain

There is a simple fix, if you are not using SSL on your blog then…

  1. Install and activate the Core Control plugin
  2. Under Tools click Core Control
  3. Select ‘HTTP Access Module 1.0′ and click ‘Save Model Choices’
  4. Under the Core Control header click on ‘External HTTP Access’
  5. Under ‘Manage Transports’ find ‘cURL’ and click ‘Disable Transport’
  6. Now activate the Jetpack plugin with your WordPress.com account.
  7. Once verified that the Jetpack plugin has activated successfully you can go back in Core Control and activate the cURL transport: Tools -> Core Control -> External HTTP Access -> Manage Transports -> cURL -> Unselect Disable Transport.

Hopefully this fixes it for you, if not let me know in the comments and ill try help you. Once registration has been successful, Jetpack seems to be happy to continue working even with cURL active transport.