Re: Proxy Autoconfig Problem

Yow! I think I have it figured out!

I looked into this more with Ethereal and had a Web page showing what I
should be seeing. Was OK up to the part where my local port should redirect
to the proxy port, 3128. I kept digging around on the Web and happened upon
a page on hacking Firefox. A piece in there says Firefox doesn't understand
the old MIME type application/x-ns-proxy-autoconfig so to use
application/x-javascript-config. I tried that for .dat, no go of course. I
had already tried redirecting the URL for wpad.dat to a proxy.pac file also
in the root of the Web server. HOWEVER I had used the same autoconfig MIME
type. I changed the .pac MIME type to application/x-javascript-config and
used the redirect from wpad.dat to proxy.pac and it seems to have started
working!

I have Firefox and IE both picking up settings as far as I can tell. I've
tried a couple of other computers around this site and they are all on.

I haven't seen anything anywhere on the Web CLEARLY explaining how to make
this work, I *think* this is it:

Create both wpad.dat and proxy.pac
Place both in the root Web of the wpad server.
Create wpad entry in DNS for Web server
Set MIME type for .dat to application/x-ns-proxy-autoconfig
Set MIME type for .pac to application/x-javascript-config

Make sure browsers are set to automatically detect proxy settings (I set up
AD to make sure, by user). This is a default for IE usually...

I may be back saying this doesn't work, but early results are GOOD!

Geoff



--
Geoff Varney


"Robert Aldwinckle" wrote:

> "Geoff Varney" <GeoffVarney@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
> news:D286C4F7-2523-4740-A046-A7D762086D50@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> >
> > "Robert Aldwinckle" wrote:
> >
> >> "Geoff Varney" <GeoffVarney@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
> >> news:07200BB6-7F45-4E49-9E24-B94EBE89E7C2@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> >> ....
> >> > If, however, I try to use the "automatically detect settings" option in IE
> >> > it doesn't apply the settings.
> >> ....
> >> > Any suggestions?
> >>
> >>
> >> Is OS NT5x? Have you tried experimenting with proxycfg too?
> >>
> >> Apparently in some cases it helps to explicitly execute the command
> >> even when you think the defaults should be in effect. YMMV.
> >>
> >> <title>KB896221 - Windows-based client computers behind a proxy server cannot access the Windows Update Web site</title>
> >>
> >> (MSKB Boolean search for
> >> proxycfg AND wpad
> >> )
> >
> > OS is Windows XP SP2 (5.1.2600). I have also had the same problem testing
> > Windows Server 2003. IE *is* 6.0 SP1 or SP2 in all cases.
> >
> > Can you explain just what I should do with proxycfg?
>
> Not really. I just know that it can be used to resolve problems
> with proxy servers in unintuitive ways. At least that's my impression
> from seeing how it has been used when resolving problems with WU.
>
>
> > I see that it can be used to place proxy settings into registry, etc.
>
> I'm not sure but I think it's the -d switch which resolves the most problems
> but then again I don't know how closely their cases would match yours.
>
>
> > What I am trying to do is
> > impose proxy settings on computers throughout a school district. There are 4
> > sites and 4 proxies. I was trying to make this as automated as possible. I
> > have in the past used Group Policy to set proxy. However, not all computers
> > are in Active Directory, not all are IE.
>
> Oh. Are the settings in Internet Properties exclusively IE ones?
> Does FireFox require you to duplicate them somewhere?
> (Mark mentioned FireFox as something which didn't have the problem.)
>
> Ah. When are you making the proxy settings?
> I remember in NT4sp6a being convinced that using Tools, Options,...
> never worked. I had to use Internet Properties instead (e.g. Run...
> control inetcpl.cpl,,4
> )
>
> Here's an article which sort of confirms what I remember seeing
>
> <title>KB835456 - When you change your proxy server settings, the change
> does not take effect in Visual Studio .NET</title>
>
> (TechNet search for
> "internet properties" proxy
> )
>
>
> > I was hoping to use Automatic
> > Detection to pick up those that don't have GP available to them. I can still
> > use proxy.pac if I use GP to set the path to the pac file, I think that may
> > work reliably enough, but still miss a number of browsers this way. I don't
> > know how to troubleshoot the breakdown in the process, using either the
> > Ethereal captures or any other methods.
>
> No kidding. I tried to find how script debugger could be used to watch
> a proxy script work and got nowhere. FileMon and RegMon would
> probably show you at least if an attempt was being used to use it
> or related files.
>
>
> >
> >
> >>
> >>
> >> Hmm... what version of wininet.dll do you have?
> >>
> >> <title>KB829643 - Internet Explorer 6.0 Service Pack 1 cannot use the
> >> Automatic Detect Settings feature in a Windows XP-based computer
> >> to find a WPAD server</title>
> >>
> >> (MSKB Boolean search for
> >> wpad AND kbiesearch
> >> )
> >>
> >
> > My wininet.dll is ver. 6.0.2900.2180 dated 8/4/2004.
>
> Is that base XPsp2? I wouldn't want to place any bets on hotfix inclusions
> in it. Who knows when the source cutover would have been done?
>
>
> > Hopefully versions newer than the one in the KB article don't have
> > the old problem, but I think that's happened before.
>
> Exactly. A related problem now is that hotfixes are no longer being
> integrated into security patches by default. You get the hotfixed version
> only if you already have a hotfix. E.g. in the latest cumulative update
>
> http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/Bulletin/MS05-025.mspx
>
> there's this
> <extract>
> Wininet.dll 6.0.2900.2668 02-May-2005 20:52 657,920 SP2GDR
> </extract>
> or this
> <extract>
> Wininet.dll 6.0.2900.2668 02-May-2005 20:57 658,944 SP2QFE
> </extract>
>
> Note that they both have the same version number but different sizes
> and File Versions. E.g. I know that I don't have the hotfixed version
> because my FileVersion contains GDR (whatever that means.)
>
> <example>
> F:\WINDOWS\system32>filever wininet.dll -v | find "FileVersion"
> FileVersion 6.00.2900.2668 (xpsp_sp2_gdr.050430-1553)
> </example>
>
> (plus the size matches the SP2GDR size.)
>
>
> FWIW
>
> Robert
> ---
>
>
>
>
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Connecting to a webpage using WinInet & through a proxy server
    ... > But what happens if I use FireFox and the proxy settings are given in ... > How does WinInet knows that we need to bypass through a proxy server? ... You have to configure IE as same as Firefox. ... > WinInet gets this details that we require proxy auth from IT settings. ...
    (microsoft.public.win32.programmer.networks)
  • Re: ISA2004 issues (pretty detailed description and therefore much reading :)
    ... > within AD environment (member server). ... > to autodetect proxy settings. ... Local DNS server configured to return my ISA ... > Is there a way to force IE browser to redetect its proxy settings? ...
    (microsoft.public.isa)
  • Re: openSUSE Updater Issue
    ... New installs from DVD with format. ... I could not get either 'zmd' or openSUSE-updater ... Our network has an internet proxy. ... in firefox using the proxy setting in firefox. ...
    (alt.os.linux.suse)
  • RE: Proxy box wont stay checked
    ... remember the IE proxy settings when it out off office. ... Microsoft CSS Online Newsgroup Support ... This newsgroup only focuses on SBS technical issues. ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.server.sbs)
  • RE: Proxy box wont stay checked
    ... remember the IE proxy settings when it out off office. ... Microsoft CSS Online Newsgroup Support ... This newsgroup only focuses on SBS technical issues. ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.server.sbs)