Add or Remove a WinHTTP Proxy

Category: General
Why read this post?
The CentraStage patch management feature may need some additional
WinHTTP proxy settings to work correctly when connecting through a proxy
server
The following post details the addition and removal of WinHTTP proxy settings
as well as how to do this using by using a ComStore component
For a more detailed overview of the topics covered in this blog post please visit http://support.microsoft.com/kb/900935
The CentraStage patch management feature interacts directly with the Windows Update Agent (WUA) API and as a result relies on the WinHTTP
proxy settings that are configured within Windows.
Often you will find that in fact no WinHTTP proxy settings have been set up as Windows Updates is normally run from within a user session.
This means that it can inherit the proxy settings as configured from within Internet Explorer.
When the WUA is called by CentraStage from the Local System account it doesnt have the luxury of having the Internet Explorer proxy settings
to draw upon and therefore cannot find a valid route out onto the internet.
The symptoms that you would see within CentraStage patch management are that the lists of installed/missing patches audited do not match the
list displayed when running Windows Updates locally on the target device. Typically there would be a lot less packages displayed in the
CentraStage audit.
As a result it is necessary to explicitly declare the proxy name and port that you want to use in this situation.
There are two commands that allow the proxy name and port to be set depending on the type of operating system that you are running:
XP/2003
proxycfg -p {proxyservername}:{portnumber}
Vista/7/2008
netsh winhttp set proxy {proxyservername}:{portnumber}
Removing a configured proxy can be done by using the following commands depending on your target operating system:
XP/2003
proxycfg -d
Vista/7/2008
netsh winhttp reset proxy
As this could be considered a bit of a pain to work out which of the two commands to use on your target devices, Ive made a pair of components
which make the decisions for you which are both available in the ComStore.
WinHTTP Proxy (Add)
This component will add a system level proxy setting on the target device. The Microsoft Windows Update client requires Microsoft Windows
HTTP Services (WinHTTP) to scan for available updates. Microsoft Windows HTTP Services run independently of Microsoft Internet
Explorer and cannot auto detect proxy settings that may have been set from within a user account. Please see http://support.microsoft.com
/kb/900935 for further details
WinHTTP Proxy (Remove)
This component will remove a system level proxy setting on the target device. The Microsoft Windows Update client requires Microsoft
Windows HTTP Services (WinHTTP) to scan for available updates. Microsoft Windows HTTP Services run independently of Microsoft
Internet Explorer and cannot auto detect proxy settings that may have been set from within a user account. Please see
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/900935 for further details
All you need to do is specify the {proxyservername} and {portnumber} as input variables at run time and the components will make the decision
as to use either the PROXYCFG or the NETSH command to achieve the desired results in your environment.
Add or Remove a WinHTTP Proxy - Scripting Simon http://www.scriptingsimon.com/2011/10/add-or-remove-a-winhttp-proxy/
1 of 2 02-07-2013 11:13
as to use either the PROXYCFG or the NETSH command to achieve the desired results in your environment.
Add or Remove a WinHTTP Proxy - Scripting Simon http://www.scriptingsimon.com/2011/10/add-or-remove-a-winhttp-proxy/
2 of 2 02-07-2013 11:13