"Windows could not automatically detect this network's proxy settings" is what the older Windows network troubleshooter says when its test connection fails at the proxy step. You right-click the network icon, run the troubleshooter, and it ends on that line, often with no fix of its own. Microsoft publishes no list of the troubleshooter's messages. Users quote this one on Microsoft's own Q&A site, among them one in February 2020 who wrote that they were "not even using a proxy server".
So read the message as a pointer to where the check stopped. Sometimes a proxy really is set and no longer answers. Sometimes the connection broke for another reason. The fixes below start with the proxy settings and end with the network stack, in the order Microsoft's own pages support.
Fewer people meet the message each month. Searches for it fell from 720 in October 2025 to 260 in September 2026, while searches for the command that resets one of the settings behind it held between about 500 and 1,000 a month.
- the message
- netsh winhttp reset proxy
Which troubleshooter prints this message?
It comes from Windows Network Diagnostics, one of the older troubleshooters built on Microsoft's Support Diagnostic Tool. Microsoft is retiring that tool. Its own timeline reads: in 2023, begin redirecting some troubleshooters to the new Get Help platform; in 2024, complete the redirection and remove the rest; in 2025, remove the platform itself.
Microsoft's list of redirected troubleshooters names both Windows Network Diagnostics and Internet Connections. When you open them from Settings, System, Troubleshoot on newer Windows 11 releases, they hand you to the Get Help app instead. That fits the falling searches above. The message now comes mostly from Windows 10 and older Windows 11 builds, and the fixes below work the same on both.
Where does Windows keep its proxy settings?
In more than one place, which is why a fix in one panel can leave the message in place.
- Settings, Network & internet, Proxy. This page holds the proxy for your user account. Microsoft's own page describes three ways to fill it: automatically, through a setup script from your organization, or manually with a server name or address and a port.
- Internet Options. The older panel, opened with
inetcpl.cpl, has its own LAN settings for a proxy. We found no Microsoft statement that the two panels always share one value, so the steps below clear both. - Each VPN connection. Microsoft notes that a VPN connection that uses a proxy needs that proxy set separately for that connection.
- WinHTTP. This is a separate stack. Microsoft tells developers to use the per-user one "unless you plan to run within a service or service-like process", and lists service support as a WinHTTP feature only. So Windows services can keep a proxy that the Settings page never shows.
You can read the WinHTTP setting yourself. Microsoft marks the older netsh winhttp show proxy as deprecated and points to netsh winhttp show advproxy instead. This is the answer on our own machine, where no proxy is set:
ProxyIsEnabled, AutoConfigIsEnabled and AutoDetect all reading false means WinHTTP connects directly. true in ProxyIsEnabled or AutoConfigIsEnabled means it uses a proxy or a setup script of its own, and true in AutoDetect means it looks for one on the network.
How do I fix it, step by step?
Work through these in order and run the troubleshooter again after each one. Most computers recover in the first two.
1. Clear the proxy in Settings and Internet Options
Open Settings, Network & internet, Proxy. Under Manual proxy setup, select Set up next to Use a proxy server, read the address, then turn it off and save. Under Automatic proxy setup, select Set up next to Use setup script and turn it off if it is on. Then press Windows+R, type inetcpl.cpl, open Connections, then LAN settings, and untick Use a proxy server for your LAN. Our guide on turning off a proxy shows each screen.
Note the address before you remove it. An address that starts with 127 was a program on this computer, often a VPN client or a filter. Any other address is worth a look in our IP lookup.
2. Check and reset the WinHTTP proxy
Open Terminal as administrator and run netsh winhttp show advproxy. If it shows a proxy and this is not a work computer that is meant to use one, reset it:
netsh winhttp reset proxy
Microsoft's reference says this command "Resets the WinHTTP proxy setting to DIRECT". On a work computer, ask IT before you run it, because the value may be there on purpose.
3. Take the VPN or security suite out of the path
Disconnect any VPN and run the troubleshooter again. Then check the VPN connection's own proxy, under VPN, the connection, Advanced options. If the message clears with the VPN off, update the VPN client or reinstall it. Security suites with a web filter behave the same way: switch the web filter off for one test, and if that clears the message, update or reinstall the suite.
4. Decide what to do with automatic detection
Automatically detect settings makes Windows look for a proxy without asking you. Microsoft's WinHTTP documentation calls the method WPAD, the Web Proxy Auto-Discovery protocol. Using DHCP or DNS, Windows looks for the address of a proxy setup file on the local network, then downloads it. Microsoft also notes that the WPAD specification "never progressed beyond the 'Internet-Draft' stage, and expired in May 2001", although Windows and browsers kept using it.
On a home network nothing usually answers, and Windows connects directly. At work or school, the network may rely on it to hand out a proxy, so leave it as IT set it. If the message appears on one network only, switch the setting off while you are on that network and test. If it appears everywhere, the cause lies elsewhere, and the setting can stay as it is.
5. Reset the network stack
Security products and VPN clients can plug into Winsock, the layer programs use to open network connections. Run these in an administrator terminal, then restart:
netsh winsock reset
ipconfig /flushdns
ipconfig /release
ipconfig /renew
Microsoft describes each one plainly. netsh winsock reset "Resets the Winsock catalog to a clean state, removing any custom LSPs", the plug-ins such products install. ipconfig /flushdns empties the DNS cache, /release gives up the current IP address and /renew asks for a fresh one. None of these descriptions mentions a proxy, so they leave a configured proxy in place. That is why they come after steps 1 and 2.
6. Use Network reset, last
Microsoft says that "Using network reset should be the last step you try". In Settings, open Network & internet, Advanced network settings, Network reset, then select Reset now. It "removes any network adapters you have installed and the settings for them", and Windows reinstalls them after the restart. Afterwards you may need to reinstall VPN software, and Windows may set your known networks to a public network profile.
What if the proxy comes back after a restart?
Then a program writes it again at startup, and no reset will hold. A VPN or security product may have left a service behind, or unwanted software may want your traffic to pass through its server. Our guide to proxy settings that keep turning back on shows how to find the program that writes it.
What if I use a proxy on purpose?
Then the troubleshooter may be right: your proxy stopped answering. Test it first. The free app on our proxy checker page tests a proxy from your own connection, so it checks the same path your computer uses. Public proxies die fast, so expect to replace one from our free proxy list.
Check the field next. Windows treats its HTTP, Secure and FTP proxy fields as HTTP proxies, so a SOCKS proxy belongs in the SOCKS field. Our guide to the proxy server isn't responding covers that case and the messages browsers show for it, and the Windows proxy setup guide shows where each kind of proxy goes. For a proxy that has to stay up, an ISP proxy keeps one fixed address, and our residential proxies cost $0.50/GB for one GB, falling to $0.44/GB at 2,000 GB+.
How do I confirm it is fixed?
Run the troubleshooter once more, or open the same check in Get Help, and let it finish without a problem. Then run netsh winhttp show advproxy again and confirm that it still shows no proxy. Finally, restart and open Settings, Network & internet, Proxy: if the switches are still off and pages still load, the fix held.
What we could not check
- Microsoft publishes no list of the old troubleshooter's messages, so the wording comes from users' reports on Microsoft's Q&A site.
- We did not break a network to reproduce the message, and we tested nothing on our network or anyone's. The console capture reads one setting on our own machine.
- We found no Microsoft statement that Settings and Internet Options always share one value, so the steps clear both.
- Microsoft's troubleshooter timeline may change. This page is due for a check by January 23, 2027.
Sources
- Microsoft Support, Deprecation of Microsoft Support Diagnostic Tool (MSDT) and MSDT Troubleshooters, read October 23, 2026.
- Microsoft Learn, Resources for deprecated features, the list of redirected troubleshooters, read October 23, 2026.
- Microsoft Support, Use a proxy server in Windows, read October 23, 2026.
- Microsoft Learn, WinINet vs. WinHTTP, Netsh.exe commands for WinHTTP and WinHTTP AutoProxy Support, read October 23, 2026.
- Microsoft Learn, netsh winsock and ipconfig, read October 23, 2026.
- Microsoft Support, Fix Ethernet connection problems in Windows, the Network reset section, read October 23, 2026.
- Microsoft Q&A, the thread titled with the message (February 24, 2020), and a 2024 thread on the same message, read October 23, 2026.
- Google Keyword Planner, worldwide monthly searches, read October 23, 2026.
