SSL error when checking addon updates

[Headless]

Hi.
After upgrading from 22nd or 23rd (don’t remember, I didn’t have time to report it, and I hoped it would go away with an update ) to the 25th version, I’ve started to see a notification upon startup and when I click “Check for updates” in an addons window. I’ve tried to rollback and the error is gone, but I didn’t pinpoint the specific version yet (I can try to update gradually, but maybe it is not needed).

This window is bothering me, and the addons update probably does not work. Please help

window itself (in the safe mode):

here is the debug info

Anki 25.02.4 (a5c33ad0)  
Python 3.9.18 Qt 6.6.2 PyQt 6.6.1
Platform: Windows-10-10.0.26100

Exception ignored in: <function HttpClient.__del__ at 0x0000016AFA3B0160>
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "anki.httpclient", line 47, in __del__
  File "anki.httpclient", line 42, in close
  File "anki._legacy", line 81, in __getattr__
AttributeError: 'HttpClient' object has no attribute 'session'
Exception ignored in sys.unraisablehook: <built-in function unraisablehook>
AttributeError: 'ErrorHandler' object has no attribute 'flush'
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "aqt.taskman", line 144, in _on_closures_pending
  File "aqt.taskman", line 88, in <lambda>
  File "aqt.addons", line 1518, in update_info_received
  File "aqt.addons", line 1490, in on_updates_received
  File "aqt.addons", line 1537, in handle_update_info
  File "aqt.addons", line 1547, in prompt_to_update
  File "anki.httpclient", line 33, in __init__
  File "requests.sessions", line 448, in __init__
  File "requests.adapters", line 222, in __init__
  File "pip_system_certs.wrapt_requests", line 28, in init_poolmanager
  File "ssl", line 751, in create_default_context
  File "ssl", line 575, in load_default_certs
  File "ssl", line 567, in _load_windows_store_certs
ssl.SSLError: [ASN1] nested asn1 error (_ssl.c:4174)

[abdo]

Can you use Help > About > Copy Debug Info and paste the text?

[Headless]

I think it’s the same info, but in the safe mode, there is no add-ons information, because they are disabled. But here it is:

Anki 25.02.4 (a5c33ad0)  (ao)
Python 3.9.18 Qt 6.6.2 PyQt 6.6.1
Platform: Windows-10-10.0.26100

===Add-ons (active)===
(add-on provided name [Add-on folder, installed at, version, is config changed])
AnkiWebView Inspector ['31746032', 2023-06-27T21:26, 'None', '']
FSRS Helper Postpone  Advance  Load Balance  Easy Days  Disperse Siblings ['759844606', 2025-04-14T09:43, 'None', mod]
Review Heatmap ['1771074083', 2022-06-30T03:43, 'None', '']

===IDs of active AnkiWeb add-ons===
1771074083 31746032 759844606

===Add-ons (inactive)===
(add-on provided name [Add-on folder, installed at, version, is config changed])

[SuhasK]

I’m not sure what’s going on, but you don’t seem to be in safe mode. It says that you have certain add-ons active (three to be exact). Did you get a pop-up that says Add-ons will not be loaded and auto-syncing will be stopped?

[Headless]

as I said - first message was from error window in safe mode, so no debug info for addons, 2nd - normal mode from ‘about’ screen, and only difference I see is addons info.
Here is my debug info from ‘about’ with safe mode

Anki 25.02.4 (a5c33ad0)  
Python 3.9.18 Qt 6.6.2 PyQt 6.6.1
Platform: Windows-10-10.0.26100

The only error message I get is when I try to update the addons (upon startup and manually), so no, I don’t get an error message that addons couldn’t be loaded.
I even tried to delete all the data, all the addons and then use ‘install addon’ button - same error as in my first message

[Danika_Dakika]

A few questions and suggestions:

1. On a regular startup, do you get this error every time? Do you also get the add-on update window? Or do you get this error instead?
2. If I understand correctly, you never get the error on a safe mode startup, right? Have you tried manually disabling all 3 add-ons and doing a regular startup?
3. Have you also tried running the update check manually from Tools > Add-ons > Check for Updates?
4. You have a mercifully short and tidy list of add-ons! Only one of those has recent updates – FSRS Helper. When you deleted all of your add-ons to add them back fresh, did you add them back one-by-one to see which one might be triggering the issue?

@Headless

After upgrading from 22nd or 23rd (don’t remember, I didn’t have time to report it, and I hoped it would go away with an update ) to the 25th version

If this was introduced in a recent version, it would be helpful to find out.

For the last few years, the version numbers are actually the year and month of the release, so is “the 25th version” the 25.02 (Feb 2025) release? The earlier versions were 24.11, 24.06, and 24.04 last year, and 23.12 and 23.10 the year before. [That’s when the version numbering changed, so past that, versions were 2.1.xx.]

If you’re like me, and you don’t clean up your “Downloads” folder very often, you might be able to look there and see what version of anki you downloaded before the 25.02 update. Or if you keep that tidy, try searching your browser download history for anki files.

If you want to try downgrading to that version, click File > Switch Profile > Downgrade & Quit – and then you can run that older installer to get back that version.

[Headless]

Hi.

1. On a regular startup, I see an error message with the additional phrase “The problem may be caused by an add-on” every time.

Window

Debug info

Anki 25.02.4 (a5c33ad0)  (ao)
Python 3.9.18 Qt 6.6.2 PyQt 6.6.1
Platform: Windows-10-10.0.26100

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "aqt.taskman", line 144, in _on_closures_pending
  File "aqt.taskman", line 88, in <lambda>
  File "aqt.addons", line 1518, in update_info_received
  File "aqt.addons", line 1490, in on_updates_received
  File "aqt.addons", line 1537, in handle_update_info
  File "aqt.addons", line 1547, in prompt_to_update
  File "anki.httpclient", line 33, in __init__
  File "requests.sessions", line 448, in __init__
  File "requests.adapters", line 222, in __init__
  File "pip_system_certs.wrapt_requests", line 28, in init_poolmanager
  File "ssl", line 751, in create_default_context
  File "ssl", line 575, in load_default_certs
  File "ssl", line 567, in _load_windows_store_certs
ssl.SSLError: [ASN1] nested asn1 error (_ssl.c:4174)

===Add-ons (active)===
(add-on provided name [Add-on folder, installed at, version, is config changed])
AnkiWebView Inspector ['31746032', 2023-06-27T21:26, 'None', '']
FSRS Helper Postpone  Advance  Load Balance  Easy Days  Disperse Siblings ['759844606', 2025-04-14T09:43, 'None', mod]
Review Heatmap ['1771074083', 2022-06-30T03:43, 'None', '']

===IDs of active AnkiWeb add-ons===
1771074083 31746032 759844606

===Add-ons (inactive)===
(add-on provided name [Add-on folder, installed at, version, is config changed])

And no, I don’t get the add-on update window, just an error.

2. In the safe mode, I don’t get this message upon startup, but I think that is because disabling plugins also disables checking for their update If I manually click “check for updates” - I see an error.

3. Yes, error all the time - in safe and normal mode.

4. I’ve tried to delete all of them (even made a fresh install removing all the data) - saw the error even without plugins

Apparently, I’m not like you I usually move my downloads folder to a simpler location like “C:\DOWNLOADS” and clear it every Monday by scheduler because I use it for temporary activities, so I don’t care if its contents last long.

So, since I didn’t get a simple solution quickly, I went the long road

I’ve deleted Anki and all the data from %appdata%, etc., installed the 23.10 version and then, halving the distance to the current version, was able to pinpoint the exact version with the problem.
So, I’m pretty sure - I cannot update or install any add-ons on Anki version 24.04 or higher. The last working version from the Releases · ankitects/anki · GitHub is 23.12.1
I didn’t use Anki for some time, so I had an older version, and after upgrading, I didn’t have any issues until some of my addons had an update.

So, right now I’ve installed 23.12.1, updated my addons and then upgraded to the latest version, so for some time I will not be seeing this window
But still, I’d like to make it go away for good.

Once again - short problem statement:
I see this error on Anki versions >= 24.04 IF there is an update of one of my addons OR I want to install a new one.

[Anon_0000]

@Headless

File "ssl", line 751, in create_default_context
  File "ssl", line 575, in load_default_certs
  File "ssl", line 567, in _load_windows_store_certs
ssl.SSLError: [ASN1] nested asn1 error (_ssl.c:4174

FYI: I looked it up and for most users (none of the reports were from anki users) the problem were certificates on their system (especially from serbia). They deleted the certs and it started to work again.

I don’t know whether deleting certs is a good idea though or if they maybe can be reset to default or updated or something else. But it might be useful info.

(Also, why does it work with older anki releases?)

Edit: 24.04 introduced this: Use system certificate store by abdnh · Pull Request #3050 · ankitects/anki · GitHub. Maybe it broke something? May I ask you if that could be the case @abdo ?

[abdo]

@Anon_0000

Edit: 24.04 introduced this: Use system certificate store by abdnh · Pull Request #3050 · ankitects/anki · GitHub. Maybe it broke something? May I ask you if that could be the case

That PR made Anki use system certificates, so yes, reverting that will probably solve @Headless’s issue, but will re-introduce the issues solved by the PR. The PR actually introduced a common issue for Windows users with fresh installations/missing updates and has been a source of a lot of error reports on the AnkiHub forums, but I’ve never seen this particular error before. I suspect something is wrong in the OP’s system certificates as you suggested.

SSL issues will probably be fixed when we work on this: Consider using Truststore to expose system certificate stores · Issue #3793 · ankitects/anki · GitHub

[Headless]

I’ve tried 25.05 (ad073ab1) via pip, and it shows no error when I install an add-on, so I think I wait ))

[Headless]

Oh! That’s weird. I didn’t notice that it is the same version I have - 25.05 (ad073ab1). But when I install it with the GitHub installer, it shows the error, and when I install it via pip, it works fine.

installed with pip

Anki 25.05 (ad073ab1) (src) (ao)
Python 3.13.2 Qt 6.9.0 PyQt 6.9.0
Platform: Windows-11-10.0.26100-SP0

===Add-ons (active)===
(add-on provided name [Add-on folder, installed at, version, is config changed])
AnkiWebView Inspector ['31746032', 2023-06-27T21:26, 'None', '']
FSRS Helper Postpone  Advance  Load Balance  Easy Days  Disperse Siblings ['759844606', 2025-04-28T04:32, 'None', '']
Review Heatmap ['1771074083', 2022-06-30T03:43, 'None', '']

===IDs of active AnkiWeb add-ons===
1771074083 31746032 759844606

===Add-ons (inactive)===
(add-on provided name [Add-on folder, installed at, version, is config changed])

installed with github installer

Anki 25.05 (ad073ab1)  (ao)
Python 3.9.18 Qt 6.6.2 PyQt 6.6.1
Platform: Windows-10-10.0.26100

===Add-ons (active)===
(add-on provided name [Add-on folder, installed at, version, is config changed])
AnkiWebView Inspector ['31746032', 2023-06-27T21:26, 'None', '']
FSRS Helper Postpone  Advance  Load Balance  Easy Days  Disperse Siblings ['759844606', 2025-04-28T04:32, 'None', '']
Review Heatmap ['1771074083', 2022-06-30T03:43, 'None', '']

===IDs of active AnkiWeb add-ons===
1771074083 31746032 759844606

===Add-ons (inactive)===
(add-on provided name [Add-on folder, installed at, version, is config changed])

Same data, same version, different components

[Headless]

Hi, @abdo
FSRS Helper updated again, and I’m seeing this error ))
I could probably solve it by updating the add-on with pip-installed Anki. Still, maybe I can help find the problematic component?

If you tell me, for example, how to create a specific venv to mimic the environment that is used in the prod versions, I could try different versions of components and find one with the problem. I think Anki itself is not a problem in there.