Get/Set/Clear proxy

Mike F Robbins (@mikefrobbins) asked if there’s a way to set a proxy with a powershell cmdlet on Windows 2012 core edition.

Well, as Mike said you need now to use netsh winhttp context to achieve this task as proxycfg.exe has been removed.

But you can also do this with the following helper functions that I wrote for this purpose 🙂

# Requires -Version 3.0            
            
Function Clear-WinHTTPproxy {            
[CmdletBinding()]            
Param()            
Begin {            
    # Make sure we run as admin                        
    $usercontext = [Security.Principal.WindowsPrincipal][Security.Principal.WindowsIdentity]::GetCurrent()                        
    $IsAdmin = $usercontext.IsInRole([Security.Principal.WindowsBuiltInRole] "Administrator")                                           
    if (-not($IsAdmin))                        
    {                        
        Write-Warning "Must run powerShell as Administrator to perform these actions"                        
        break            
    }            
    $head = 40,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,1,0,0,0            
    $none = 0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0            
}            
Process {            
    $HT = @{            
        Path = "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\Connections";            
        Name = "WinHttpSettings";            
        PropertyType = "Binary";            
        Value = ($head+$none);            
        Force = $true;            
        ErrorAction = "Stop";            
    }            
    try{             
        New-ItemProperty @HT | Out-Null            
    } catch {            
        Write-Warning -Message "Failed to set proxy because $($_.Exception.Message)"            
    }            
    Get-WinHttpProxy            
}             
End {}            
}            
            
Function Get-WinHttpProxy {            
[CmdletBinding()]            
Param()            
Begin{}            
Process {            
   $binval = (Get-ItemProperty "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\Connections" -Name WinHttpSettings).WinHttPSettings            
   $proxylength = $binval[12]            
   if ($proxylength -gt 0) {            
       $proxy = -join ($binval[(12+3+1)..(12+3+1+$proxylength-1)] | % {([char]$_)})            
       $bypasslength = $binval[(12+3+1+$proxylength)]            
       if ($bypasslength -gt 0) {            
            $bypasslist = -join ($binval[(12+3+1+$proxylength+3+1)..(12+3+1+$proxylength+3+1+$bypasslength)] | % {([char]$_)})            
        } else {            
            $bypasslist = '(none)'            
        }            
       "Current WinHTTP proxy settings:`n"            
       '    Proxy Server(s): {0}' -f $proxy            
       '    Bypass List    : {0}' -f $bypasslist            
    } else {            
        @'
Current WinHTTP proxy settings:

    Direct access (no proxy server).
'@            
    }            
}            
End{}            
}            
            
Function Set-WinHttpProxy {            
[cmdletbinding()]            
Param(            
[Parameter(mandatory)][system.string]$proxyserver=$null,            
[System.String]$bypasslist=$null            
)            
Begin{            
    # Make sure we run as admin                        
    $usercontext = [Security.Principal.WindowsPrincipal][Security.Principal.WindowsIdentity]::GetCurrent()                        
    $IsAdmin = $usercontext.IsInRole([Security.Principal.WindowsBuiltInRole] "Administrator")                                           
    if (-not($IsAdmin))                        
    {                        
        Write-Warning "Must run powerShell as Administrator to perform these actions"                        
        break            
    }            
}            
Process {            
    # Define 3 arrays            
    $proxylength = $proxyserver.Length,0,0,0            
    $bypasslength = $bypasslist.Length,0,0,0            
    $head = 40,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,3,0,0,0            
    $HT = @{            
        Path  = "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\Connections";            
        Name = "WinHttpSettings";            
        PropertyType = "Binary";            
        Value  = ($head+$proxylength+$proxyserver.ToCharArray()+$bypasslength+$bypasslist.ToCharArray())             
        Force = $true;            
        ErrorAction = "Stop";            
    }            
    try {            
        New-ItemProperty @HT | Out-Null            
    } catch {            
        Write-Warning -Message "Failed to set proxy because $($_.Exception.Message)"            
    }            
    Get-WinHttpProxy            
}            
End {}            
}

Here’s how to use them with their netsh equivalent:

# Reset proxy            
netsh --% winhttp reset proxy            
Clear-WinHTTPproxy            
            
# Show proxy            
netsh --% winhttp show proxy            
Get-WinHttpProxy            
            
# Set proxy            
netsh --% winhttp set proxy proxy-server="http=myproxy;https=sproxy:88" bypass-list="*.foo.com"            
Set-WinHttpProxy -proxyserver "http=myproxy;https=sproxy:88" -bypasslist "*.foo.com"            

NB: The above function only query the WinHttpSettings value in the registry. It doesn’t take into account whether there’s a GPO and/or a current user level (HKCU hive) based proxy.