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Problem accessing Windows Updates via http proxy server
Problem accessing Windows Updates via http proxy server
- I am wondering if anyone else is noticing problems accessing Windows Update from behind a proxy server/webcaches.
There is a similar problem in Media Center and the guide/TV info will not download.
This used to work when I first started testing the Beta. I have reinstalled it and there are still the same problems occuring (only windows firewall installed)
This is a fairly serious problem. Many universities and business force users to connect via proxy servers/webcaches and users should be able to download content using the IE proxy settings without needing exceptions on the router or proxy.
Answers
- Problem solved. Network support said:
The problem was an issue with the way that the web proxies handled Web Proxy Autodiscovery Protocol (WPAD) requests.
There was an issue with Vista requesting a .dat file from the web proxy to correctly implement the pac file that is used to configure your outbound connections. It looks like the problem came down to a single line in packet sent back to Vista that didn't have a hostname entry and Vista needs it to authenticate the proxy.
Our current theory is that Microsoft are trying to move away from using the proxy set in Internet Explorer as the default for the whole system, or it might just be a mistake.
The above may be helpful to others experiencing similar issues behind a proxy. This issue was also causing problems with using Windows Update in Vista, and 7.
elyoh- Marked As Answer byelyoh Saturday, March 07, 2009 1:16 PM
All Replies
Hi,
The download for Windows 7 beta on Microsoft websites are different then the websites for Windows Vista or Windows XP. Maybe your proxy server has blocked these websites for Windows 7 beta so contents could not be downloaded. In order to resolve this issue, the proxy server administrator need to adjust settings to allow any websites from Microsoft.
If the issue persists after changing the proxy settings, I suggest that you try to connect the computer to another network if it is not behind a proxy server if it is convenience and check the result. To do so we could find if there is any issue on the local system but not network.
Arthur Xie - MSFT- By using netsh winhttp set proxy proxyname:port to set the proxy, Windows 7 was able to connect to the update server and get the updates. I was under the impression that Windows read the proxy information from Internet Explorer and used that to route requests made by Windows to connect to the Internet although appently this is not the case.
Incidently, connecting via wireless to the same proxy allows updates to proceed without running the above command. However, the network people have advised me that the network is configured to allow updates from Microsoft through.
Very strange...
- Unmarked As Answer byelyoh Saturday, March 07, 2009 1:16 PM
- Marked As Answer byArthur XieMSFT, ModeratorFriday, February 20, 2009 9:45 AM
Hi,
It seems that you reset the proxy and port with the command. Since it works, I suspect that the previous proxy settings are not correct. We could also set proxy in IE properties. After you change the connection, the proxy settings would not be reset. Therefore you do not need to re-run the command.
Arthur Xie - MSFT- I should clarify further as I'm not sure if I explained it correctly initially:
Before running:
netsh winhttp set proxy proxyname:port the proxy settings were configured correctly in IE. Internet access for all* programs worked fine except for Windows Update.
I tried on a wired network and updates failed.
I tried on wireless network and updates were sucessful.
So Windows was able to use the proxy settings provided to connect.
After running:
netsh winhttp set proxy proxyname:port
Windows updates worked fine on the wired network also.
What I'm getting at is there seems to be some issue where connection via proxy on wireless works fine but wired does not.
Both the Wireless and Wired networks are identically configured and use the same proxy.
*There is a similar problem with Windows media Center in both Vista and 7 which will both download the EPG Guide on wireless connection but not on wired.
- Problem solved. Network support said:
The problem was an issue with the way that the web proxies handled Web Proxy Autodiscovery Protocol (WPAD) requests.
There was an issue with Vista requesting a .dat file from the web proxy to correctly implement the pac file that is used to configure your outbound connections. It looks like the problem came down to a single line in packet sent back to Vista that didn't have a hostname entry and Vista needs it to authenticate the proxy.
Our current theory is that Microsoft are trying to move away from using the proxy set in Internet Explorer as the default for the whole system, or it might just be a mistake.
The above may be helpful to others experiencing similar issues behind a proxy. This issue was also causing problems with using Windows Update in Vista, and 7.
elyoh- Marked As Answer byelyoh Saturday, March 07, 2009 1:16 PM
- Problem identied - Not problem solved.
So to get a wired network to connect without enter proxy details each time I must run
netsh winhttp set proxy proxyname:port
Lets hope an update is on the way to resolve this :)- Proposed As Answer byRyster Wednesday, November 25, 2009 2:21 PM
- Forgive the old topic resurrection, but I've run into this issue when doing some lab testing of Windows 7 at the organisation I work for. This is preparation for a possible rollout of Windows 7 across the company next year.
Our existing domain sets the proxy information for IE by group policy, but it seems Windows Update in Windows 7 takes no notice of this setting. Is there a new group policy setting to set this? I'd consider running the netsh winhttp set proxy command in a logon script, but it requires elevation and at that point it starts to get complicated.
Would this lack of proxy settings in Windows also be the reason the network icon in the system tray always says "No Internet Access" on our test machines?
