When Chrome on your Mac keeps pushing you to the “wrong” sign-in page (an old tenant, a country-specific login, a different account portal, or an unexpected SSO page), it’s usually not the website “being broken.” It’s often a stored redirect, a cached HSTS rule, an extension, or DNS that’s steering you somewhere else.
Start with the quick checks first—they’re the least disruptive.
1. Confirm the URL you’re starting from (and remove auto-filled paths)
A lot of login systems use multiple subdomains and paths, and Chrome will happily autocomplete a previously used one.
- In the address bar, type the base domain only (for example: example.com, not example.com/login?something).
- Press Enter, then navigate to sign-in from the site itself.
- If you use bookmarks, right-click the bookmark and check whether it contains an old redirect=, continue=, or tenant-specific URL.
If this alone fixes it, you’re done—update the bookmark so it doesn’t reintroduce the redirect.
2. Test in Incognito (this isolates cookies, cache, and most extensions)
Incognito is a fast way to tell whether the redirect is caused by stored site data in your normal session.
- Open an Incognito window: File > New Incognito Window.
- Try the sign-in again.
If Incognito works: the cause is likely cookies/site data, cached redirects, or an extension in your normal profile.
If Incognito also redirects wrong: think DNS, system proxy/VPN, or the site/account configuration.
3. Clear site data for just that site (not your whole browser)
Clearing everything is overkill. Instead, remove cookies and storage for the affected domain so Chrome stops reusing old sessions and redirect hints.
- Open Chrome Settings > Privacy and security > Third-party cookies (or Cookies and other site data).
- Go to See all site data and permissions.
- Search for the site’s domain and remove its stored data.
Then fully quit and reopen Chrome, and try again.
4. Disable extensions that can rewrite logins (ad blockers, privacy tools, SSO helpers)
Some extensions modify headers, block cookies, rewrite URLs, or force you onto a different identity provider.
- Go to chrome://extensions.
- Toggle off anything related to ad blocking, tracking protection, password/SSO tooling, antivirus “web protection,” or request rewriting.
- Retry sign-in after disabling them.
If it works, re-enable extensions one at a time to find the exact culprit.
5. Reset Chrome’s network/DNS state and flush macOS DNS
Wrong redirects can happen when DNS is stale (especially after switching networks, using a work VPN, or changing DNS providers).
- In Chrome, open chrome://net-internals/#dns and click Clear host cache.
- Then open chrome://net-internals/#sockets and click Flush socket pools.
- On macOS, open Terminal and run: sudo dscacheutil -flushcache; sudo killall -HUP mDNSResponder
After that, restart Chrome and try again. If you’re on a VPN or proxy, test once with it off (if allowed) to see if it’s enforcing a different login route.
6. Try a fresh Chrome profile (rules out corrupted profile routing)
If redirects only happen in one Chrome profile, the profile’s stored state (cookies, local storage, cached policies, extension mix) may be the cause.
- Click your profile icon in Chrome > Add (create a new profile).
- In the new profile, do not install extensions yet.
- Try the sign-in flow.
If the new profile works, migrate gradually: add only needed extensions and sign in to Chrome Sync later, so you don’t immediately restore the bad state.
Final thoughts
Wrong sign-in redirects are usually Chrome reusing old site state, an extension rewriting traffic, or DNS/VPN steering you to a different edge/login endpoint.
If none of the steps change anything, try the same URL in another browser on your Mac. If the redirect is identical there, it’s likely account-side (tenant, region, SSO policy) rather than Chrome.