How do I configure proxy settings for LOCAL SYSTEM?

Question

If I edit Proxy Settings through the Control Panel, the settings are stored in HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\ProxyEnable and ...\ProxyServer. These settings are of course not used when running as a service under LOCAL SYSTEM.

So I tried setting ProxyEnable and ProxyServer under HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-18\... (as well as HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\... and all the other users on the system), but that does not work.

How do I set the proxy settings for the LOCAL SYSTEM user?

score 25 · Accepted Answer · edited Oct 05 '21 at 14:05

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It is actually the value in Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\Connections\DefaultConnectionSettings that is used.

Since that is not easily modified, you can modify the proxy settings for a user, export the registry key, modify the path in the exported file to HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-18 and reimport it.

edited Oct 05 '21 at 14:05

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answered Jul 02 '09 at 10:51

Rasmus Faber

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This solved my problem, many thanks! I ended up writing a Java class to manipulate the DefaultConnectionSettings hex string, as I needed to set the proxy programmatically. – Andrew Swan Nov 29 '10 at 04:30
Can this work if authentication is required? – Raúl Salinas-Monteagudo May 07 '19 at 07:15
I had to use another ID than `S-1-5-18` and I retrieved it by issuing: `wmic useraccount get name,sid|findstr some-user-name`. – 030 Oct 06 '21 at 08:59

score 13 · Answer 2 · edited Jul 08 '20 at 09:46

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First, run cmd as administrator to open a command prompt.

Command to copy proxy settings of current user to WinHttp:

netsh winhttp import proxy source =ie

To reset the proxy to default settings:

netsh winhttp reset proxy

To show proxy settings of current user:

netsh winhttp show proxy

edited Jul 08 '20 at 09:46

Florian Winter

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answered Jun 04 '14 at 14:54

TomazZ

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[One liner](https://superuser.com/questions/489527/how-can-i-configure-proxy-settings-for-all-apps-system-ie-etc): `netsh winhttp import proxy source =ie` – Vadzim May 22 '17 at 07:28
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this doesn't work running as a `SYSTEM` it will return none – AK_ Mar 27 '21 at 21:38

score 7 · Answer 3 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:41

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Another way, albeit much messier, is to use psexec to open a command prompt running as LOCAL SYSTEM, then from that open iexplore.exe, modify the settings appropriately.

edited May 23 '17 at 12:41

Community

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answered Aug 13 '13 at 15:02

Rory

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`PsExec.exe -i -s regedit /s "%~dp0Internet Settings.reg" ` – Vadzim May 22 '17 at 07:26

score 1 · Answer 4 · answered Aug 13 '09 at 05:12

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You might want to try using ProxyCFG.EXE, which sets the proxy for any WinHTTP calls.

answered Aug 13 '09 at 05:12

Christopher_G_Lewis

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What versions of Windows have ProxyCFG.EXE? It's not in Windows 7, for example. Also, does IE use WinHTTP? – Andrew Swan Nov 26 '10 at 03:01
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In Windows 7/Win 2008 R2 NetSH.exe is used for all proxy config stuff: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc731131(WS.10).aspx – Christopher_G_Lewis Nov 29 '10 at 03:49

score 1 · Answer 5 · answered Oct 31 '15 at 06:05

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Reg add "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings" /v "ProxyEnable" /t REG_DWORD /d "0" /f

Reg add "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings" /v "ProxyServer" /t REG_SZ /d "http://procycorp.bac:80" /f

answered Oct 31 '15 at 06:05

user319684

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Does that actually work now? 7 years ago when I last tried this, it just changed the values in the registry, but you had to change Connections\DefaultConnectionSettings to actually get Windows to use the procy server. – Rasmus Faber Oct 31 '15 at 06:29
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This sets the current user (CU in HKCU), so not the local system user. – Ralph Bolton Jan 17 '19 at 14:45

score 1 · Answer 6 · answered Oct 13 '17 at 07:18

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The Same thing can be done much easier in this way-

& C:\windows\System32\bitsadmin.exe /Util /SetIEProxy LocalSystem Manual_proxy http://<proxyserver>:<proxy port> "<Any bypasses to be added>"

answered Oct 13 '17 at 07:18

Alan Jebakumar

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How do I configure proxy settings for LOCAL SYSTEM?

6 Answers6