Web Proxy Auto-Discovery (WPAD) on Windows

If you deployed ETP Client on Windows and the proxy is enabled in ETP policy, the Web Proxy Auto-Discovery (WPAD) protocol must be running as a Microsoft Windows HTTP (WinHTTP) service. WPAD allows a browser to automatically discover a proxy without additional configuration. If this service is disabled, ETP Client cannot function with ETP Proxy.

Before installing ETP Client, make sure the service is running on Windows machines.

Confirm WinHTTP WPAD service is running

Complete this procedure to confirm that the Web Proxy Auto-Discovery (WPAD) service is running on a Window machine.

How to

  1. On the Windows machine, open a command prompt with administrator privileges.
  2. Enter this command to check the status of the WPAD service: 
    sc query winhttpautoproxysvc

    Confirm that the reported state is RUNNING. For example, these results should appear. 

    SERVICE_NAME: winhttpautoproxysvc
TYPE               : 30  WIN32
STATE              : 4  RUNNING
                   (NOT_STOPPABLE, NOT_PAUSABLE, IGNORES_SHUTDOWN)
WIN32_EXIT_CODE    : 0  (0x0)
SERVICE_EXIT_CODE  : 0  (0x0)
CHECKPOINT         : 0x0
WAIT_HINT          : 0x0

Next steps

  • If the service is not enabled, contact your system administrator to enable it.
  • If the service cannot be enabled and ETP Client is already on the machine, manually delete the DefaultConnectionSettings registry key value in the following location of the Windows registry: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\Connections

    If the DefaultConnectionSettings key contains localhost (127.0.0.1) information to ETP Client, it may impact Internet access to other applications in your enterprise, such as Google Chrome or Cisco Webex. For instructions, see Remove DefaultConnectionSettings value in Windows registry.

Remove DefaultConnectionSettings value in Windows registry

If the WinHTTP Web Proxy Auto-Configuration (WPAD) service cannot be enabled on a Windows machine that’s already installed with ETP Client, complete this procedure to remove the value for the DefaultConnectionSettings key in the Windows registry. If this setting contains data for ETP Client, it may impact Internet access to other applications in your enterprise, such as Google Chrome or Cisco Webex.

How to

  1. Open a command prompt with administrator privileges.
  2. Enter this command to remove the value that is associated with the DefaultConnectionSettings key. 
    reg delete "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\Connections" /v DefaultConnectionSettings