The full page reads "There is something wrong with the proxy server, or the address is incorrect", with ERR_PROXY_CONNECTION_FAILED printed underneath and three suggestions: contact the system admin, check the proxy address, run Windows Network Diagnostics. Chrome and Edge both show it, on every site, all at once. The wording makes it sound like a server somewhere has a fault. What it actually reports is narrower and more useful: Windows is configured to send the browser's traffic through a proxy, the browser tried that proxy, and nothing answered.
Two different people land on this page. The larger group never set a proxy and has no idea why Windows thinks there is one. The smaller group set a proxy on purpose and it stopped working. Each needs a different fix, so this guide splits after the first section. If you already know which group you are in, skip ahead.
What the browser is telling you
Chromium, the engine under both Chrome and Edge, files this as error -130 and defines it as a failure to create a connection to the proxy server, either because its name could not be resolved or because a socket to it could not be opened. That definition rules out most of what people try first. The website is not down. Your Wi-Fi is not broken, or the browser would say so with a different error. Clearing the cache changes nothing, because no request was ever sent. The whole failure sits on one short leg: from the browser to the proxy address stored in Windows.
That address is the key to everything. Open Settings, Network & internet, Proxy. Under Manual proxy setup, if Use a proxy server is on, click Edit and read the address and port. Under Automatic proxy setup, note whether Use setup script is on and what URL it points to. Write both down before you change anything. The address tells you who put it there.
| Address in the proxy box | Who usually set it |
|---|---|
127.0.0.1 or localhost with a port | A program on this computer: VPN client, ad blocker, antivirus web shield, parental control, debugging tool |
10.x.x.x or 192.168.x.x with a port | A school, office, or home-network proxy that only exists on that network |
| A public IP or hostname you recognise | A proxy you or a colleague configured on purpose |
| A public IP or hostname you do not recognise | Unwanted software, or a leftover from something uninstalled |
| A setup script at a domain you do not know | Unwanted software, until proven otherwise |
If you never set a proxy
Most readers are in this group, and the fix takes about two minutes.
1. Switch it off in both Windows panels
On the Proxy page you just opened, click Edit under Manual proxy setup, switch Use a proxy server off, and save. If Use setup script is on, switch it off too. Then press Windows+R, run inetcpl.cpl, open the Connections tab, click LAN settings, and uncheck Use a proxy server for your LAN and Use automatic configuration script. Windows keeps the same setting in two panels, and some programs only read the older one, so clear both. Reload the page.
For most people the site loads at this point. Two follow-up questions decide whether you are actually done.
2. Look at the address you removed
If it was 127.0.0.1 with a port, a program you installed at some point used a local proxy and left the setting behind when it was removed, updated, or stopped. On a home PC that story is the most common one: a VPN uninstall, an expired security suite, a local ad-filtering proxy. Nothing more to do unless the setting returns.
If it was a public address you do not know, look it up in our IP lookup before you forget it. A hosting provider in a country you have no link to, on a computer where nobody bought a proxy, means a program routed your browsing through a server it controls. That warrants a scan, and possibly password changes. Proxy settings that keep turning back on walks through the evidence, the scan, and the clean-up in order.
3. Check whether it comes back
Restart the computer and open the Proxy page again. If the setting is on again, something is rewriting it and switching it off will never be enough. The same guide shows how to catch the writer with Process Monitor and remove it.
4. Rule out an extension
If the Windows panels were already clean and you still see the page, the proxy is coming from inside the browser. At chrome://extensions (or edge://extensions), disable every proxy, VPN, or "unblocker" extension, and reload. An extension whose proxy server has gone away produces exactly this page while the operating system shows nothing at all.
5. Check for a policy
If the toggles on the Proxy page are greyed out, or the page says some settings are managed by your organization, a policy is holding the proxy in place. On a work or school device that is expected, and the administrator is the right person to ask. On a personal machine it is a leftover registry key, and the keep-turning-back-on guide lists the paths to clear.
If you set the proxy on purpose
Then the proxy you chose has stopped answering, and the question is why. Work down this list; each step takes under a minute.
Confirm the proxy is alive. Run the address through our proxy checker, which reports whether it answers, what protocol it speaks, and where it exits. A dead result ends the investigation: the proxy is gone, and no browser setting will revive it. Free proxies produce this outcome constantly: a public address is used by a crowd until it stops answering, often within the hour. Pick a replacement from the free proxy list, which marks the last successful check beside every address, or use a paid residential proxy if the job needs an address that stays up.
Check the port and the protocol. The Windows manual proxy field expects an HTTP proxy. A SOCKS5 proxy pasted into it fails with this exact error, because the browser speaks HTTP to a server that is waiting for a SOCKS handshake. Port numbers are the usual clue: 1080 is almost always SOCKS, while 8080, 3128, and 80 are HTTP. For a SOCKS proxy, use the Advanced button in the Internet Options LAN settings, which has a separate Socks field, or a browser extension that supports it. Our Chrome guide on ERR_PROXY_CONNECTION_FAILED covers the protocol mismatch in more depth.
Check the network you are on. A proxy at a private address such as 10.0.0.5:8080 is only reachable from inside the network that owns it. A laptop configured for an office proxy throws this page at home, in a cafe, and on a phone hotspot. The clean solutions are to switch the proxy off when away, to connect through the organisation's VPN so the address becomes reachable, or to leave the manual proxy off and rely on Automatically detect settings, which picks the proxy up only where the network announces it.
Look for a blocker between you and the proxy. If the checker says the proxy is alive but the browser still cannot reach it, something local is in the way. A VPN reroutes your whole connection and can leave the proxy unreachable; turn it off and reload. Antivirus web shields intercept browser traffic and can refuse unknown proxy ports; add an exception. Corporate and school firewalls block outbound connections to unusual ports, in which case a proxy on 8080 or 443 gets through where one on a high random port does not.
The three hints on the page, decoded
Chrome's error page is written for a managed office computer, which is why its advice reads oddly at home. Each hint maps to one of the situations above.
Contact the system admin assumes the proxy was configured by an IT department and only they can fix it. On a work or school machine that is exactly right, and the greyed-out toggle or the managed-by-your-organization banner is the sign that it applies to you. On a personal computer there is no admin, and the hint means: you are the admin, and the setting is yours to remove.
Check the proxy address is the hint that applies to most home users, and the Proxy page in Settings is where you do it. The address is either one you recognise, in which case verify the proxy still works, or one you do not, in which case remove it and find out what wrote it.
Run Windows Network Diagnostics hands the problem to the built-in troubleshooter, which is covered next.
Windows Network Diagnostics, and what it will say
The error page offers to run Windows Network Diagnostics. It is worth one click, but know what to expect. The troubleshooter tests the connection, notices the proxy, and usually reports one of two things: that the proxy server is not responding, or that Windows could not automatically detect this network's proxy settings. Both point at the same setting you have already found, and the second one has a guide of its own at Windows could not automatically detect this network's proxy settings, because it appears in other situations too.
Confirm the fix
After the page loads again, do one more check so that you know the proxy is gone rather than merely different. Open our IP lookup and read the address and the owner. The owner should be the company you pay for internet, and the location should be roughly where you are. If it shows a hosting company or another country, a proxy is still carrying your traffic, and the section on extensions and policies above is where to look next.
Then, if you meant to use a proxy and the old one died, set the new one up properly. Our guides to proxy setup on Windows and in Chrome show where each field goes and how to confirm it works before you rely on it.