Free tool

Proxy setup generator one proxy line, the exact settings for each place

Paste the proxy your provider gave you and get the boxes to fill on Windows, a Mac, Android or an iPhone, and the lines for netsh winhttp, networksetup, Linux, Firefox, Chrome, curl and Python. The password is written the way each place expects it, and the whole thing runs in your browser: it never leaves the tab.

Your proxy line

Protocol

Sites that skip the proxy (optional)

Example, until you paste yours: host:port:user:passhost 203.0.113.10port 8080user alicepassword s3cret

Where it goes

Windows has no field for a proxy login. Chrome and Edge ask for it in a sign-in window; a program that cannot ask needs your provider to allow your address instead, or a local relay.

Windows 11 Settings

1
Open Settings, then Network & internet, then Proxy.
2
Under Manual proxy setup, select Set up next to Use a proxy server. Once a proxy is saved, the button reads Edit.
3
Switch Use a proxy server on.
4
Proxy IP address203.0.113.10
5
Port8080
6
Select Save.

On Windows 10 the path is Settings, Network and Internet, Proxy: under Manual proxy setup turn on Use a proxy server, and the boxes are Address and Port.

To turn it off: Edit next to Use a proxy server, switch it off and Save.

Windows services: netsh

Command Prompt, as administrator

set advproxyset proxy (older)

netsh winhttp set advproxy setting-scope=machine settings={\"Proxy\":\"203.0.113.10:8080\",\"ProxyBypass\":\"\",\"AutoconfigUrl\":\"\",\"AutoDetect\":false}

netsh winhttp show advproxy

netsh winhttp set proxy proxy-server="203.0.113.10:8080"

netsh winhttp show proxy

This is the proxy Windows services use, Windows Update among them, not your browser's. Microsoft marks set proxy as deprecated in favour of set advproxy. To undo either: netsh winhttp reset proxy.

Programs started from one PowerShell window

PowerShell

$env:HTTP_PROXY = 'http://alice:s3cret@203.0.113.10:8080'

$env:HTTPS_PROXY = 'http://alice:s3cret@203.0.113.10:8080'

$env:NO_PROXY = 'localhost,127.0.0.1,::1'

curl.exe -s https://www.cloudflare.com/cdn-cgi/trace | Select-String '^ip='

curl.exe, Python, pip and git read these. They last until the window closes, and the ip= line should show the proxy's address.

The whole story, with the errors and the fixes: The Windows proxy guide →

How it works

Three steps, none of them on a server

Nothing to install and nothing to sign up for. Paste, pick a place, copy.

Paste the line you were given

host:port, host:port:user:pass, user:pass@host:port or a full socks5:// address. The same reader as our proxy formatter takes it apart and shows you what it read, password included, so you can see it got it right.

Pick where it goes

Windows, a Mac, Linux, Android, an iPhone, Firefox, Chrome, curl, Python, a PAC file or a local relay. Each one gets its own boxes to fill or lines to run.

Copy what you need

Every value and every block has its own copy button. Where a place cannot take something, a login on Windows or SOCKS5 on an iPhone, the page says so and shows the way round it.

What each place takes

Ten places, ten different rules

Which proxy types each one accepts, where the login goes, and how it wants the list of sites that skip the proxy. The generator follows this table; the guides behind it cite the makers' own documentation.

Place	Proxy types	Login	Sites that skip it
Windows Settings	HTTP	No field: Chrome and Edge ask	Semicolons
netsh winhttp	HTTP	None	Semicolons
macOS	HTTP, HTTPS, SOCKS	In Settings and networksetup	Commas
Linux shell, apt, dnf	HTTP, SOCKS5 in the shell and dnf	Inside the URL, encoded; dnf in its own lines	no_proxy, commas
Android Wi-Fi	HTTP	No field: Chrome asks	Commas
iPhone Wi-Fi	HTTP	The Authentication switch	None: use a PAC file
Firefox	HTTP, SOCKS5	Asked in a window, HTTP only	Commas, .domain
Chrome command line	HTTP, SOCKS5	None	Semicolons
curl, Python requests	HTTP, SOCKS5	Inside the URL, encoded	no_proxy
PAC file	HTTP, SOCKS5	None	Rules you write

Why it is not trivial

The hard part is the password, not the address

Typing a host and a port into a box takes a second. Writing the password the way each place reads it is where setups fail, and they fail with a 407 that explains nothing.

One password, several spellings

The same password goes into a URL percent-encoded, into a Mac command inside single quotes, into squid.conf with every % doubled, and into Windows not at all. p@ss is p%40ss in the curl line and stays p@ss on the Mac. One wrong character and the proxy answers 407 with no hint why.

Each place says what it cannot do

Windows and Android have no field for a proxy login, the iPhone has no list of exceptions, and Chrome takes no login for SOCKS5 at all. Instead of writing settings that cannot work, the page names the limit and the fix: a sign-in window, an address allowlist, a PAC file or a relay.

Every line has a source

The commands come from the makers' own documentation: Microsoft's netsh reference, Apple's networksetup manual, Android's settings, Firefox's preference names, Chromium's flags, and the curl, requests, Squid and gost manuals. Each place links to our full guide for it.

Nothing is sent anywhere

The input to this tool is a proxy with its password. The line is read and every setting is written by JavaScript in your browser, and the page makes no request with what you type. Disconnect from the internet after the page loads and it still works.

Questions

Proxy setup generator FAQ

The netsh, Mac and password questions people ask before they set a proxy up, answered against what the generator actually writes.

What does the proxy setup generator do?

It turns one proxy line into the exact settings for the place you want to use it: the boxes to fill on Windows, macOS, Android or an iPhone, and the commands or files for netsh, networksetup, a Linux shell, apt, dnf, Firefox, Chrome, curl, Python, a PAC file or a local relay. The password is written the way each place expects it.

How do I set a proxy with netsh winhttp set proxy?

Open Command Prompt as administrator and run netsh winhttp set proxy proxy-server="203.0.113.10:8080", adding bypass-list="*.example.com" for sites that should skip it. Microsoft marks set proxy as deprecated in favour of netsh winhttp set advproxy, which takes the same values as JSON, so the generator writes both. netsh winhttp show advproxy shows the result and netsh winhttp reset proxy removes it. Neither takes a user name or password, and SOCKS5 is not supported.

Does netsh winhttp change my browser's proxy?

No. netsh sets the WinHTTP proxy, which Windows services use, Windows Update among them. Chrome and Edge read the proxy in Settings, Network & internet, Proxy, which belongs to the signed-in user. To change what the browser uses, fill in that page; the generator gives you both.

How do I set a proxy on a Mac from Terminal?

With networksetup. networksetup -setwebproxy "Wi-Fi" 203.0.113.10 8080 sets the web proxy for the Wi-Fi service, -setsecurewebproxy does the same for HTTPS, and on with a user name and a password at the end turns the login on. networksetup -listallnetworkservices lists the service names, and scutil --proxy shows what the Mac now uses.

How do I write a proxy password with special characters?

It depends on where it goes. Inside a URL, which is how curl, Python requests and the http_proxy variable take it, special characters are percent-encoded: @ becomes %40, : becomes %3A, # becomes %23 and / becomes %2F. Typed into a settings screen, or handed to networksetup as an argument of its own, it stays exactly as issued. The generator writes each form, so p@ss:word appears as p%40ss%3Aword in the curl line and as p@ss:word on the Mac.

Why is there no password box on Windows or Android?

Neither has a field for a proxy login. Chrome and Edge ask for the user name and password in a sign-in window when the proxy wants one. A program that cannot ask needs your provider to allow your IP address instead, or a small relay on your own computer that adds the login, which the generator also writes.

Does it work with SOCKS5?

Where the place supports it: macOS, the Linux shell and dnf, Firefox, Chrome's command line, curl, Python requests, PAC files and the relay. Windows' proxy settings, netsh, Android's Wi-Fi proxy and the iPhone's take HTTP only, and the generator says so instead of writing settings that cannot work.

Is my proxy password sent to your server?

No. The line is read and every setting is written by JavaScript running in your browser, and the page makes no request with what you type. You can disconnect from the internet after the page loads and it keeps working.

Can I use it with proxies from any provider?

Yes. It reads the line shapes every provider exports, with the same reader as our proxy formatter, and it never checks where a proxy came from or whether you have an account.

How do I check that the proxy took?

Run the curl line from the generator: the ip= line it prints should show the proxy's address, not yours. In a browser, our Proxy IP Checker shows the address that actually reached the server.

After the setup

A saved setting is not a working proxy. Check it next.

The settings can be exactly right and the traffic can still go around the proxy. Two free checks tell you which.

The upgrade

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