KB – Windows Proxy configuration

• By -Grischa Ernst

KB – Windows Proxy configuration

• Posted on 2022-01-21
• Posted in KB, Windows Desktop

Workspace ONE and Windows management are always complicated when using a proxy.

To avoid further misunderstandings I tested all five different scenarios and here are the results:

	INET	WINHTTP	BITS	INET+WINHTTP	INET+BITS	WINHTTP+BITS
HUB start	yes	yes	Yes	yes	yes	Yes
HUB works	yes	no	no	yes	restart required
Manual Enrollment	yes	No – *Works with INET	No	yes	yes	No  *Works with INET
WNS Registration	yes	No – since no enrollment	No	yes	yes	No – since no enrollment
WNS Push	yes	yes (after enrollment)	No	yes	yes	No – since no enrollment
App Deployment	yes	yes (after enrollment)	No	yes	yes	No – since no enrollment
App Deployment if no user is logged on	yes	yes (after enrollment)	No	yes	yes	No – since no enrollment
App status change in console	yes	No	No	yes	yes	No – since no enrollment
Freestyle	Not tested	Not tested		yes	Not tested	No – since no enrollment

How do you detect what kind of Windows proxy configuration you are using?

First, INET is the most common one. You can use a proxy the GUI to configure the proxy:

But also via registry in the current user hive:

SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings

Of course, the proxy is also configurable via Windows GPO. The setting is located in the user hive under:

User Configuration > Preferences > Control Panel Settings > Internet Settings

The only option to configure BITS and WINHTTP is to use Windows command line or PowerShell.

netsh winhttp set proxy <proxy>:<port>

or to get the configuration:

netsh winhttp show proxy

For the BITS Proxy you can use the following command:

bitsadmin /util /getieproxy <account>

You can use the following accounts:

• LOCALSYSTEM
• NETWORKSERVICE
• LOCALSERVICE

To get all possible proxy settings, I created a small script to show the current proxy configuration.

#INET Proxy
$INET = Get-ItemProperty "HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings" -Name ProxyEnable -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

if($INET)
{
 if($INET.ProxyEnable -eq '1')
 {
    $INETDetected = $true
    $INETServer = (Get-ItemProperty "HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings" -Name ProxyServer).ProxyServer
    
    Write-Output "INET Proxy detected and enabled" 
    Write-Output "INET Configuration:"
    Write-Output $INETServer 
    Write-Output ""

 }else{$INETDetected = $false}
}else{$INETDetected = $false}


#WINHTTP Proxy
$WINHTTP = netsh winhttp show proxy

if($WINHTTP[3] -like "*no proxy server*")
{
     $WINHTTPDetected = $false
}
else
{
    $WINHTTPDetected = $true
    
    Write-Output "WINHTTP Proxy detected and enabled" 
    Write-Output "WINHTTP Configuration:"
    Write-Output $WINHTTP[3]
    Write-Output ""
}


#BITS Proxy
$BITSLOCALSYSTEM = bitsadmin /util /getieproxy LOCALSYSTEM
$BITSNETWORKSERVICE = bitsadmin /util /getieproxy NETWORKSERVICE
$BITSLOCALSERVICE = bitsadmin /util /getieproxy LOCALSERVICE

if($BITSLOCALSERVICE[8] -like "*autodetect*" -and $BITSNETWORKSERVICE[8] -like "*autodetect*" -and $BITSLOCALSERVICE[8] -like "*autodetect*")
{
     $BITSDetected = $false
}
else
{
    $BITSDetected = $true
    Write-Output "BITS Proxy detected and enabled" 
    Write-Output "BITS Configuration:"
    Write-Output $BITSLOCALSYSTEM[5]
    Write-Output $BITSLOCALSYSTEM[8]

    Write-Output $BITSNETWORKSERVICE[5]
    Write-Output $BITSNETWORKSERVICE[8]

    Write-Output $BITSLOCALSERVICE[5]
    Write-Output $BITSLOCALSERVICE[8]
    Write-Output ""
}

if($INETDetected -eq $false -and $WINHTTPDetected -eq $false -and $BITSDetected -eq $false)
{
    Write-Output "No Proxy detected"     
}