Unable to Connect to the Proxy Server: Fixes for Every Device

"Unable to connect to the proxy server" is the sentence Chrome used for years above the code ERR_PROXY_CONNECTION_FAILED, and it is still the phrase most people remember and search for. Newer desktop builds reword the page as "there is something wrong with the proxy server, or the address is incorrect", but the code under it has not changed, and neither has the meaning. The browser is set to send traffic through a proxy, it tried to reach that proxy, and nothing answered. The site you wanted was never contacted.

Where this version of the message still turns up most is on phones and Chromebooks, and that changes the fix. On a desktop, a proxy is usually a device-wide setting. On Android, iOS, and ChromeOS it is stored per Wi-Fi network, which is why the error can appear on one network and vanish on the next, and why clearing it in the wrong place changes nothing. This guide goes device by device, starting with the two where the setting is easiest to miss.

Android

Android keeps one proxy setting per saved Wi-Fi network and a separate one for mobile data. Start with the network you are on.

1. Open Settings, then Network & internet, then Internet. Tap the gear icon next to the connected network, then the pencil icon to edit it.
2. Expand Advanced options. The Proxy field offers None, Manual, and Proxy Auto-Config. Set it to None and save. On Samsung phones the same field is under Settings, Connections, Wi-Fi, the gear next to the network, View more, Proxy.
3. Reload the page in Chrome.

If the phone shows the same error on other Wi-Fi networks, each one was saved with its own proxy and each needs the same edit. A faster route when many networks are affected is Settings, System, Reset options, Reset Wi-Fi, mobile & Bluetooth, which forgets every network along with its proxy; you will need to re-enter Wi-Fi passwords afterwards.

An error that also appears on mobile data is not coming from a Wi-Fi network. Two places remain. A VPN app under Settings, Network & internet, VPN, may be set to always-on and pointing at a server that no longer works; turn it off and test. The other is the APN, the carrier profile for mobile data, which has Proxy and Port fields of its own. Some carriers fill those in on purpose, so do not clear them blindly. Open the APN list, and use Reset to default from its menu; that restores the carrier's own values including any proxy the carrier legitimately uses.

One more Android-specific cause: a proxy or VPN app that was uninstalled while it held the network setting. The app is gone, its proxy stays saved on the network, and Chrome fails until the field is set back to None. Most "it worked yesterday" reports on Android come down to exactly that.

Chromebook

ChromeOS stores the proxy per network too. Open Settings, Network, click the network you are connected to, and expand Proxy. Choose Direct connection and confirm. If the Chromebook belongs to a school, the proxy may be enforced by policy and the field will be locked; chrome://policy shows a ProxyMode or ProxyServer entry when that is the case, and only the administrator can change it.

With the network clean, two browser-side causes remain. Open chrome://extensions and disable any extension that manages proxies or VPNs, since an extension whose server disappeared produces this exact page. If the Chromebook runs Android apps, an Android VPN app installed from the Play Store can also capture traffic; check it under the Android settings inside ChromeOS.

Windows

On Windows the setting is device-wide and lives in two panels. Open Settings, Network & internet, Proxy, and under Manual proxy setup click Edit, switch Use a proxy server off, and save. Switch Use setup script off if it is on. Then press Windows+R, run inetcpl.cpl, open Connections, click LAN settings, and uncheck the proxy boxes there as well. Note the address before you remove it: a 127.0.0.1 entry is a leftover from a program on this PC, usually a VPN or an ad blocker, while an unfamiliar public address is worth a look in our IP lookup and a scan. The turn-off guide covers the third Windows layer, WinHTTP, which matters when Windows Update fails alongside the browser.

If the Windows panels were already clean, the proxy is coming from inside Chrome or Edge: an extension at chrome://extensions, or a policy at chrome://policy.

Mac

macOS stores proxies per interface, so Wi-Fi and Ethernet each carry a set. Open System Settings, Network, select the active connection, click Details, then Proxies, and switch off every enabled protocol: Web proxy (HTTP), Secure web proxy (HTTPS), SOCKS proxy, and the two automatic options. Click OK. If the setting flips back on when you close the panel, a configuration profile is re-applying it; System Settings, General, Device Management lists them.

iPhone and iPad

Open Settings, Wi-Fi, tap the i next to the connected network, scroll to HTTP Proxy, and set Configure Proxy to Off. Like Android, it is per network. A profile under Settings, General, VPN & Device Management can set the proxy for every network at once, and removing an unknown profile clears it everywhere.

Firefox, and its "unable to find the proxy server"

Firefox ignores the operating system's proxy unless told to use it, and it has two messages of its own that people mix up with Chrome's. "The proxy server is refusing connections" means Firefox reached an address and was turned away, or found nothing listening, and our guide to that message covers it. "Unable to find the proxy server" is different and more specific: the proxy was entered as a hostname, and that name did not resolve in DNS, so Firefox never attempted the connection at all. A misspelled hostname, a provider hostname that has been retired, or a DNS problem on your own connection all produce it.

Both are fixed in the same dialog. Open Settings, scroll to Network Settings at the bottom of the General page, click Settings, and either choose No proxy or correct the address. If you have the proxy's numeric IP, use it instead of the hostname; that takes DNS out of the picture and tells you immediately whether the name or the server was the problem.

Sort it by symptom

When you are not sure which section applies, the pattern of failure usually says.

• Only on one Wi-Fi network. The proxy is saved on that network. Edit the network (Android, iPhone, Chromebook), or that interface (Mac).
• On every network, on one device. A device-wide setting, a VPN app, or a profile. Windows and macOS panels, Android VPN and APN, iOS profiles.
• Only in one browser. Browser-side: Firefox's own dialog, or an extension in Chrome or Edge.
• Working at home, failing at school or work, or the reverse. The proxy is only reachable on the network that owns it. Switch it off when away, or use that organisation's VPN.
• Worked yesterday, fails today, nothing changed. The proxy itself died. Check it, below.

When the proxy was deliberate

If you entered the proxy yourself, the device is doing what you asked and the proxy has stopped answering. Confirm that before you touch any settings by testing the address in our proxy checker. It tells you whether the proxy responds, what protocol it speaks, and which country it exits from. If the checker calls it dead, the story is the usual one for a public proxy: everyone who found the same list is using the same address, it stops answering long before the day is out, and one that was alive when you typed it in is often gone by the next time you open the browser.

Replace it rather than fighting it. Our free proxy list re-checks every entry every few minutes and prints the time of the last pass, so you can pick one verified minutes ago instead of one copied from a stale page. When the checker reports the proxy alive and the device still cannot reach it, the mismatch is usually protocol: a SOCKS5 proxy in a field that expects HTTP, which is the case in the Windows manual proxy box, the Android Wi-Fi proxy field, and the iOS HTTP Proxy setting, all of which accept HTTP proxies only. Our Chrome guide on ERR_PROXY_CONNECTION_FAILED explains the protocol check in detail.

Confirm the proxy is really gone

Clearing a field is a claim; check it. Open our IP lookup on the device that showed the error and read the address and the network owner. The owner should be your ISP, and the location should match where you are sitting. A hosting company or a different country means a proxy you have not cleared yet is still in the path: another saved network, a VPN app, a profile, or an extension. On Android, a second check is to forget the network and rejoin it; the proxy field of a freshly joined network is empty unless something writes it again, and if it is not empty after a rejoin, an app on the phone is writing it and needs to go.

For anything that needs to stay connected, a phone that should always exit from one country, a console, a work tool, a scraper, a free proxy is the wrong instrument regardless of how carefully it is chosen. An ISP proxy that keeps one address, or a residential session pinned to one exit, is built for that, and the setup guides for Android and iPhone put it into the same per-network fields you just cleared.