The Proxy Server Isn't Responding: 5 Fixes for Windows and Edge

"The proxy server isn't responding" is older than most of the browsers people now see it in. The sentence belongs to Windows itself: it is the error page of Internet Explorer and the original Microsoft Edge, the verdict the Windows Network Diagnostics troubleshooter gives when a configured proxy does not answer, and the message a fair number of Windows programs still show, because they fetch web content through the same Windows components that Internet Explorer used. That origin is the useful part. A message produced by Windows is fixed in Windows' own settings, and Windows keeps the proxy setting in more than one place.

Under the wording, the situation is simple. Something on this computer told Windows to route web traffic through a proxy server at a specific address and port. Windows tried that address and received nothing. The website you asked for was never reached, so nothing about the website, your Wi-Fi password, or your browser cache is involved. The five fixes below run from the most likely cause to the least, and the first one resolves the majority of cases on a home PC.

Fix 1: clear the proxy in both panels

Windows exposes the per-user proxy setting through two different panels. The Settings app is the modern one. Internet Options is the older control panel, kept alive because a large number of programs and installers still read their proxy through it. Both write the same underlying value, but a setting applied through one is not always reflected in the other straight away, and people who clear only the Settings page report that the error survived.

1. Open Settings, then Network & internet, then Proxy. Under Manual proxy setup, click Edit, switch Use a proxy server off, and save. Before you do, read the address in the box and write it down. Under Automatic proxy setup, switch Use setup script off if it is on, noting its URL too.
2. Press Windows+R, type inetcpl.cpl, and press Enter. Open the Connections tab and click LAN settings. Uncheck Use a proxy server for your LAN and Use automatic configuration script. Click OK.
3. Still on the Connections tab, look at the list of connections above the LAN settings button. If a VPN or dial-up entry is there, select it and click Settings; each of those entries keeps a separate proxy of its own, and a leftover VPN entry with a proxy set is a classic cause on laptops.
4. Reload the page.

The address you wrote down tells you what put it there. 127.0.0.1 with a port is a program on this computer, most often a VPN client, an antivirus web shield, or an ad-blocking tool with a local filtering port. If that program has been uninstalled or is no longer running, nothing is listening, and this error is the result. An address in the 10.x.x.x or 192.168.x.x range is a school or office proxy that only exists on that network. A public address that means nothing to you is the one case that needs more than a toggle, covered in fix 3.

Fix 2: reset the WinHTTP proxy for system services

Windows Update, the Microsoft Store, Microsoft 365 activation, and the network troubleshooter itself do not use the per-user setting from fix 1. They use a separate configuration called WinHTTP. It is normally set to direct access, and it does not change when you flip the toggles above, so a stale value here keeps producing the error in system components after the browser is already working.

Open Terminal or PowerShell as administrator and run:

netsh winhttp show proxy

The answer you want is Direct access (no proxy server). If a proxy is listed instead, and no administrator put it there, reset it:

netsh winhttp reset proxy

Skip this on a work computer that is meant to use a proxy for system traffic. On a managed device the administrator set the value deliberately, and the right move is to ask them.

Fix 3: remove whatever put the proxy there

Clearing the setting is enough when the program that wrote it is gone. When it is still present, the setting comes back, sometimes within seconds, sometimes at the next sign-in.

For a program you recognise, the fix is a clean uninstall: Settings, Apps, Installed apps, remove it, and run the maker's dedicated uninstaller if it offers one, because VPN clients and security suites often leave a background service behind. Then repeat fix 1.

For a program you do not recognise, or an address you cannot account for, slow down. Sitting between you and every website is a strong position for malicious software, and a proxy address pointing at a server abroad on a machine that never had a paid proxy is a real sign rather than a coincidence. Look the address up in our IP lookup to see who owns it, then work through proxy settings that keep turning back on, which shows how to identify the exact program writing the setting with Process Monitor, how to check for a rogue root certificate, and how to clean the machine in an order that does not leave the writer in place.

Fix 4: reset the network stack, if the troubleshooter keeps looping

Some machines show this error, or the related "Windows could not automatically detect this network's proxy settings", after the proxy settings are already clean. The usual cause is damage to the Winsock layer, which is where old security software, VPN clients, and network filters insert themselves, and where they leave broken pieces behind when removed badly.

Run these in an administrator terminal, then restart:

netsh winsock reset
netsh int ip reset
ipconfig /flushdns
ipconfig /release
ipconfig /renew

Be honest with yourself about what these do. They rebuild the network stack and clear the DNS cache. They do not remove a proxy setting, so running them with a proxy still configured leaves the error exactly where it was. Use them after fix 1 and fix 2, not instead of them. If the troubleshooter still reports a proxy problem afterwards and nothing is configured anywhere, our guide to the could not automatically detect message covers the remaining causes, including the automatic detection toggle and network adapter drivers.

Fix 5: if the proxy was yours, find out why it stopped answering

If you set the proxy deliberately, Windows is doing what you asked and the proxy has stopped replying. Test the proxy before you touch Windows again.

Check whether it is alive. Our proxy checker takes the address and port and tells you whether anything answers, which protocol it speaks, and where it exits. Dead means the search is over: the proxy is gone, and the fix is a different proxy. With free public proxies this is the normal outcome, because a public address is used by whoever finds it until it stops working, usually within hours. Our free proxy list carries a last-checked time beside every address, so you can choose one verified minutes ago instead of one copied from a stale page.

Check the protocol. The Windows manual proxy field expects an HTTP proxy. A SOCKS5 address in that field produces exactly this error, because Windows speaks HTTP to a server waiting for a SOCKS handshake. Port 1080 almost always means SOCKS. For a SOCKS proxy, use the Advanced button in the Internet Options LAN settings, which has a dedicated Socks field.

Check the network. A proxy at a private address such as 10.0.0.5:8080 only answers from inside the network that owns it. At home, in a cafe, or on a phone hotspot it is unreachable, and the error is correct. Turn the proxy off when away, or connect through that organisation's VPN first.

Check for something in the way. A VPN reroutes your entire connection and can leave the proxy unreachable; turn it off and test. Antivirus web shields and firewalls can block an unusual proxy port; add an exception, or use a proxy on a common port such as 8080 or 443. If the proxy needs a username and password and Windows keeps asking, or you see a 407 response, our guide to 407 Proxy Authentication Required is the right next page.

Older Windows, and the Internet Explorer reset

On Windows 7 and 8.1 the Settings page does not exist, and Internet Options is the only panel: the inetcpl.cpl steps in fix 1 apply unchanged. If Internet Explorer itself is the program showing the error and its settings have been tampered with beyond the proxy, the Advanced tab of Internet Options has a Reset button that returns the browser to defaults. Tick Delete personal settings only if you are prepared to lose saved passwords and form data in Internet Explorer. This is a last resort, and it does nothing for Chrome, Firefox, or the current Edge.

Confirm it stayed fixed

A day later, check three things. Settings, Network & internet, Proxy still shows the manual proxy off. netsh winhttp show proxy still reports direct access. And our IP lookup names your ISP as the network owner, which proves that no proxy, in any of the three layers, is carrying your traffic. If any of the three has changed, something is rewriting the setting, and fix 3 is where the answer is.

If you cleared a proxy you wanted and now need to put a working one back, the Windows proxy setup guide shows where each field goes and how to confirm it works first. For anything that has to stay up, a static ISP proxy, or a residential line with a sticky session, is the tool built for the job.