"The proxy server isn't responding" is the page Internet Explorer 11 showed when Windows sent web traffic to a proxy that did not answer. The proxy's address stood next to the message, followed by the first advice: "Check your proxy settings. Go to Tools > Internet Options > Connections". Programs built on Windows' WinINet layer report the same failure as error 12165, "The designated proxy server cannot be reached". The website was never contacted. The fix is a proxy setting on your computer, and the question of who put it there.
Newer browsers word the failure their own way. Edge fails every request with ERR_PROXY_CONNECTION_FAILED when its proxy is out of reach, and Chrome uses the same code. Firefox heads its page "The proxy server is refusing connections". Chrome's old heading has a page of its own: unable to connect to the proxy server. The steps here come from the vendors' own help pages and source code, read on October 13, 2026.
Searches follow the newer wording. Keyword Planner counts about 3,600 searches a month worldwide for ERR_PROXY_CONNECTION_FAILED, which has a guide of its own, and about 70 for Internet Explorer's message.
Which program shows which message
| Program | What it shows | Where to look |
|---|---|---|
| Internet Explorer 11 | The proxy server isn't responding | Internet Options |
| Store apps, Windows 8.1 | The same page | Internet Options |
| WinINet programs | Error 12165 | Internet Options |
| Edge and Chrome | Something wrong with the proxy | Windows Settings |
| Firefox | Refusing connections | Connection Settings |
Microsoft Q&A (copies of the page, 2015 and 2017), Microsoft Learn, Chromium and Firefox source, our page on the Chrome and Edge wording; read October 13, 2026
What the message means
Your computer is set to use a proxy, and the proxy did not reply. The list of WinINet errors gives the condition a number and a name: 12165, ERROR_INTERNET_PROXY_SERVER_UNREACHABLE. WinINet is more than a browser part. Fiddler's documentation calls it "the HTTP layer used by Internet Explorer, Microsoft Office, and many other products". One stale setting can therefore break several programs at once.
A program asks Windows for a page
through WinINet, like Internet Explorer
Windows finds a proxy setting
Settings, Internet Options, a VPN or a script
It calls the proxy address
for example 127.0.0.1:8080
Nothing answers
error 12165, and the message
The address in the message is the best clue. Two people who copied the page into Microsoft's forum saw 127.0.0.1:8080 in 2017 and 127.0.0.1:57720 in 2015. Addresses in 127.0.0.0/8 belong to the block RFC 6890 lists as Loopback: the computer itself. So a program on the same PC was meant to be the proxy, and nothing answered at that port anymore. In the 2017 case, the message came right after a malware scan had removed something from the laptop.
The page went on with two more hints. It asked the user to make sure the firewall was not blocking web access, and to "Ask your system administrator for help". On a home PC that person is you, and the steps below are the work.
Check these in order on Windows
Start with the address in the message, then work through each place Windows keeps a proxy.
Find and clear the proxy behind the message
- 1
Read the address
An address that starts with 127 is a program on this PC. Any other address is a proxy somewhere else, from a work network or from a source you have to find.
- 2
Windows Settings
Open Settings, Network & internet, Proxy. Under Manual proxy setup, select Set up next to Use a proxy server, turn it off, and select Save. Check Use setup script as well.
- 3
Internet Options
Press Windows+R and type inetcpl.cpl. Open Connections, then LAN settings, and untick Use a proxy server for your LAN.
- 4
Each VPN connection
Windows keeps a separate proxy for every VPN connection. Open VPN, the connection, Advanced options, then Edit next to Proxy settings for this VPN connection.
- 5
WinHTTP, for services
In an administrator terminal, netsh winhttp show advproxy shows the setting services use. netsh winhttp reset proxy sets it to direct.
- 6
Back after a restart
Then a program or a policy writes the setting again. The section on who set it covers each case.
For a proxy typed by hand, Windows asks for "the proxy server name or IP address and port". A proxy for a VPN has to be set "separately for that VPN connection", in the words of Microsoft's own proxy page. The proxy fields of Windows have room for HTTP, Secure, FTP and SOCKS. Microsoft's Edge docs add that every one of them except SOCKS names an HTTP proxy.
A setup script is the other way a proxy gets in. Windows' option for it needs "the location of the proxy setup script", which usually comes from an employer. Edge's docs describe a PAC script as a JavaScript program that returns the proxies to use for each address. Edge has a policy flag that "prevents the network stack from falling back to direct connections" when the script is invalid or unavailable. Without that flag, Edge can fall back to a direct connection. So switch the script off at home, unless your work needs it.
WinHTTP is a separate setting again. The netsh reference says netsh winhttp reset proxy "Resets the WinHTTP proxy setting to DIRECT". Microsoft also advises programs to use WinINet "unless you plan to run within a service or service-like process", so WinHTTP mostly matters to services. Chrome's Windows code reads the per-user setting through WinHttpGetIEProxyConfigForCurrentUser. Our Windows proxy guide found that Windows Update reads its own setting.
Firefox and Edge read the same setting
Firefox starts out with the computer's proxy. Its default value for network.proxy.type is 5, and in Firefox's Connection Settings dialog the value 5 is the option "Use system proxy settings". A proxy left behind in Windows therefore stops Firefox too. Firefox heads that page "The proxy server is refusing connections", or "Unable to find the proxy server" when the proxy's name does not resolve. Its advice reads "Check the proxy settings to make sure that they are correct".
Two labels in Firefox name another source. When an extension holds the proxy, the settings page names it and says it "controls how" Firefox "connects to the internet". An administrator can set the proxy through Firefox's Proxy policy, and its Locked field decides "whether or not proxy settings can be changed". Our page on the proxy server refusing connections works through the Firefox message in detail.
Edge uses "the integrated Chromium engine for modern sites", by its IE mode page, and it follows Windows unless an Edge proxy setting decides. Its proxy docs name three such settings: a command-line switch, an extension or a policy. The ProxySettings policy offers the modes direct, system, auto_detect, fixed_servers and pac_script. When nobody configures the policy, the same page says "users can choose their own proxy settings". Microsoft's policy guide sends you to edge://policy "to see all policies that are applied". Our page on there is something wrong with the proxy server shows the words Chrome and Edge put on screen.
Who set the proxy
A proxy you never typed came from somewhere, and the address and its habits tell you where.
Who set the proxy, and what to do
| Source | What you see | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| A tool like Fiddler | 127.0.0.1 and a port | Start it, then close it normally |
| Removed software | 127.0.0.1 left behind | Clear the setting |
| A VPN connection | A proxy in its options | Edit that VPN's proxy |
| Malware | The setting comes back | Full Defender scan |
| Your admin | A policy, locked settings | Ask your IT team |
| You | Your own proxy | Test the proxy |
Fiddler Classic docs, Microsoft Q&A, Microsoft Support, Microsoft Security Intelligence, Firefox and Edge policy docs; read October 13, 2026
The Fiddler docs describe the first case. "After you start Fiddler, the program registers itself as the system proxy", and on a normal close "it unregisters itself as the system proxy before shutting down". If Fiddler does not close normally, that last step does not run. Malware is the harder case. Microsoft Defender has detections named Trojan:Win32/ProxyChanger and Trojan:JS/ProxyChanger. Their pages note that "many infections can leave remnant files and system changes", so run a full scan as well.
An address you cannot place can be looked up in our IP lookup, which shows its country, network operator and whether it is a known proxy. When the setting keeps returning, our guide to proxy settings that keep turning back on traces the program that writes it.
When the proxy is yours
If you set the proxy on purpose, Windows is doing what you asked, and the proxy is not replying. Test the proxy before you change anything else. The free app on our proxy checker page tests a proxy from your own connection and reports the fraud score of the exit address. Public proxies change fast, too: our free list API "moves every few minutes as proxies die and new ones are found". Pick a recent one from the free proxy list and expect to replace it. To test several at once, paste them into the online proxy checker, which reports each one's status, speed and anonymity.
Check the type next. A SOCKS proxy typed into Windows' HTTP field gets HTTP from Windows, since every field except SOCKS names an HTTP proxy. A proxy that belongs to a school or office may only answer on that network. And Edge ignores a username and password stored in the proxy settings. Its proxy page says sign-in will "go through the ordinary flow to find credentials", so Edge asks again, or the proxy answers 407. Our guide to 407 Proxy Authentication Required covers that case.
Messages that sound the same
Several searches lead here with slightly different words, and each has its own fix.
- Web proxy not responding. Microsoft's Edge docs note that people who say "web proxy" usually mean an HTTP proxy. Apple's Mac settings use the same name, "Web proxy (HTTP)". So it is the same problem, and the same checks apply.
- wpad.domain.name is not responding. Windows Network Diagnostics says this about automatic proxy detection. The wpad name belongs to that feature: in Edge's terms, the WPAD protocol probes the network with DHCP and DNS to find a PAC script. A 2016 question with that wording on Microsoft's forum carries more than 600 "same question" marks. Our guide to Windows could not automatically detect this network's proxy settings covers that family.
- The proxy server is refusing connections. Firefox's wording, covered on its own page.
- Unable to connect to the proxy server. Chrome's old heading, on its own page.
Do netsh winsock reset and ipconfig /flushdns help?
Both commands appear in many answers to this message, and both reset something other than the proxy. The netsh reference describes netsh winsock reset as a command that "Resets the Winsock catalog to a clean state". The ipconfig reference says /flushdns "Flushes and resets the contents of the DNS client resolver cache". Neither description mentions a proxy setting. Clear the proxy first, and keep the resets for a network stack that is damaged.
Confirm it stayed fixed
Look again the next day. The manual proxy switch in Settings should still be off. netsh winhttp show advproxy, which "Displays the current WinHTTP advanced proxy setting", should show no proxy. And our IP lookup should name your own internet provider as the operator of your address. If one of the three changed, something writes the setting again, and the section on who set it applies.
Where HProxy fits
A proxy that keeps one address suits a computer that should stay on it. Our Windows proxy setup guide shows where each field goes. An ISP proxy from us can be held as a dedicated static IP. Our residential proxies cost $0.50/GB for one GB, falling to $0.44/GB at 2,000 GB+, and Premium keeps one address for up to 24 hours from $1.00 per GB. For datacenter use, IPv4 proxies from $1.58 per IP speak HTTP, HTTPS and SOCKS5.
What we could not find out
- Microsoft's own page for the message. We found the full text of Internet Explorer's page only in users' copies on Microsoft's forum, from 2015 and 2017.
- A list of the troubleshooter's messages. We found no Microsoft list of what Windows Network Diagnostics can say, only users quoting it.
- Whether Settings and Internet Options share one value. We found no Microsoft statement that the two panels store the same setting, so the steps clear both.
- Edge's heading for this error. Microsoft's proxy page names the error code; we did not read Edge's own error page strings.
Sources
Read on October 13, 2026, unless noted.
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Google Keyword Planner, worldwide monthly searches for each wording of the message, read October 23, 2026.
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Microsoft Learn, WinINet errors, ERROR_INTERNET_PROXY_SERVER_UNREACHABLE.
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Microsoft Q&A threads 2751587 (2017), 2666462 (2015) and 2720487 (2016, the WPAD message), and other threads found through Microsoft Learn's search.
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Microsoft Support, Use a proxy server in Windows, the Settings app and VPN steps.
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Microsoft Learn, Netsh.exe commands, netsh winsock and ipconfig.
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Microsoft Learn, Microsoft Edge Proxy Support, the ProxySettings policy, Configure Microsoft Edge policy settings and What is Internet Explorer mode?.
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Microsoft Learn, WinHttpGetIEProxyConfigForCurrentUser, and Chromium's Windows proxy reader.
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Chromium source, error page strings and the network error list.
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Firefox source: certError.ftl, netError.ftl, connection.ftl, preferences.ftl, StaticPrefList.yaml and the Connection Settings dialog.
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The Fiddler Classic Proxy, from Progress Telerik's documentation for Fiddler Classic.
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Microsoft Security Intelligence, Trojan:Win32/ProxyChanger and Trojan:JS/ProxyChanger.
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This page's own Search Console data, July 15 to October 12, 2026, and Google Keyword Planner volumes worldwide.
