KB139546 - Troubleshooting Internet Explorer and Proxy Servers

Article ID: 139546

Article Last Modified on 1/19/2007

Microsoft Windows 95
Microsoft Plus! 95 Standard Edition

This article was previously published under Q139546

SUMMARY

You can configure Microsoft Internet Explorer to use a proxy server to connect to the Internet. A proxy server acts as a security barrier between your internal network and the Internet, keeping others on the Internet from accessing information on your internal network. This article describes troubleshooting steps that may help you to solve problems that arise when you use a proxy server to connect to the Internet.

MORE INFORMATION

For information about configuring Internet Explorer to use a proxy server, please see the Internet.txt file in the Program Files\Plus!\Microsoft Internet folder.

If the Internet.txt file is not present in the Program Files\Plus!\ Microsoft Internet folder, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

137746 Microsoft Plus! Internet.txt File Contents

If you cannot connect to the Internet after configuring Internet Explorer to use a proxy server, use the following steps to troubleshoot the problem:

Use the right mouse button to click the Internet icon, click Properties on the menu that appears, click the Advanced tab, and verify that the settings in the Proxy Server box are correct. These settings should appear as follows:
http://<address>:<port>
where <address> is the address of the proxy server, and <port> is the port number assigned to the proxy server. For example, if the proxy server's address is "proxy.example.microsoft.com" and the port number is 80, the setting in the Proxy Server box should read:
http://proxy.example.microsoft.com:80
If you do not know the address or port number of the proxy server, see your network administrator.
Try using the Ping tool (Ping.exe) to access the proxy server. To do so, type the following command at a command prompt, and then press ENTER:
ping <address>
where <address> is the address of the proxy server. If you are unable to access the proxy server using the Ping tool, or you do not know the address of the proxy server, see your network administrator.
If you are using the "proxy.example.microsoft.com" format for the address of the proxy server, try using the Internet Protocol (IP) address of the proxy server instead. To do so, use the right mouse button to click the Internet icon, click Properties on the menu that appears, click the Advanced tab, and type the IP address of the proxy server in the Proxy Server box.

If using the IP address of the proxy server corrects the problem, there may be a problem with your Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) configuration. For information about how to resolve this problem, or if you do not know the IP address of the proxy server, see your network administrator.
Try entering the domain name in the Bypass Proxy On box. The domain name is typically the last components of the "proxy.example. microsoft.com" proxy server address. For example, if the address of the proxy server you are using is "proxy.example.microsoft.com" then "example.microsoft.com" is probably the domain name. To confirm that this is the domain name, see your network administrator.

If entering the domain name in the Bypass Proxy On box corrects the problem, the configuration of your network requires that Internet Explorer be configured in this manner. You do not need to troubleshoot the problem any further.
If the proxy server address you are attempting to use is actually an alias for multiple proxy servers, try using the address for just one of the proxy servers instead. If this corrects the problem, then there may be a problem with the alias you are attempting to use, or with one of the proxy servers that the alias refers to. For information about how to resolve this problem, see your network administrator.
Verify that the security in place on the network does not prevent you from using the proxy to access the Internet, or prevent you from accessing the specific information you are trying to access. To do so, see your network administrator.

Additional query words: firewall

Keywords: KB139546