Setting proxy in Windows Server 2016 for the Update service

In Windows Server 2016 the usual trick of just setting a proxy server in IE doesn’t seem to work. The proxy can be set from the command line, but there is some contradictory advice out there. What worked for me was:

netsh winhttp set proxy proxy-server="your.proxy.server:port" bypass-list="*.your.local.domain"

This should result in:

Current WinHTTP proxy settings:

    Proxy Server(s) : your.proxy.server:port
    Bypass List : *.your.local.domain

You can also check this with

netsh winhttp show proxy

You are meant to be able to import this from IE, but that gave me a syntax error.

You may need to restart the update service after this to kick it into life.

Published by

Jamie Scott

IT Administrator at the Institute for Gravitational Research, University of Glasgow