Windows Proxy Setup: Step by Step, With Username and Password

1. Press Win + I to open Settings, or press Win + R and run ms-settings:network-proxy to go straight to the page.

2. Select Network & internet, then Proxy.
3. Under Manual proxy setup, select Set up next to Use a proxy server. The Edit proxy server dialog opens.

4. Turn on Use a proxy server. Enter gate.proxyfield.io in Proxy IP address and 7000 in Port (with the IP allowlist, the port you set up in the dashboard). These are Microsoft's own steps and labels (Use a proxy server in Windows): an address, an optional port and exceptions, and no login.

5. In the exceptions box, enter localhost;127.0.0.1;*.local, and tick Don't use the proxy server for local (intranet) addresses.
6. Select Save. Open Edge or Chrome and load https://api.ipify.org. With a username and password, a Sign in box says "The proxy … requires a username and password", naming gate.proxyfield.io:7000, with Username and Password fields. Enter your ProxyField login: the page then shows an IP that is not yours. A wrong login brings the same box back.
7. With the IP allowlist instead (and the port you set up in the dashboard in step 4), no box appears: the page loads at once and shows a proxy IP. Neither a box nor a page? The address or port is wrong, or your public IP changed since you allowlisted it (errors).

Labels can differ slightly between versions.

1. Open Start → Settings → Network & Internet → Proxy.
2. Under Manual proxy setup, turn on Use a proxy server.
3. Enter gate.proxyfield.io in Address and 7000 in Port (with the IP allowlist, the port you set up in the dashboard).
4. Add the exceptions (localhost;127.0.0.1;*.local) and tick Don't use the proxy server for local (intranet) addresses.
5. Select Save, then check the IP in a browser as above.

On Windows 7 and 8.1: run inetcpl.cpl, open Connections → LAN settings, tick Use a proxy server for your LAN, and enter the same address and port.

The form takes only an address, a port and exceptions; the login happens later, in the app. By the HTTP standard, a proxy that needs a login answers with status 407 (Proxy Authentication Required) and the app supplies the credentials; Microsoft's authenticated proxy servers article agrees: they come from the app or, on a domain-joined work PC, from your Windows sign-in. Three ways to sign in:

• The browser asks. Edge and Chrome show the Sign in box from step 6. Enter your ProxyField username, with the location in it, and your password. Whether the browser asks again depends on its credential cache: it usually keeps the login until you close the browser.
• IP allowlist. Add your network's public IP in your ProxyField account and enter the port you set up in the dashboard in Port instead of 7000, and the gateway accepts the PC without a password. Choose this for desktop apps and services that can't show a sign-in box: netsh winhttp set proxy has no username or password parameter. It only works on that network.
• The app's own proxy field. Firefox, Git, pip, npm, Telegram, scrapers and antidetect browsers take the login in their own settings (table below).

No. The Settings proxy is read by apps that use WinINet, the per-user Windows internet library, and by browsers that follow the system setting. Chrome and Edge read the same Windows proxy setting but are not WinINet apps: they take the address from Windows and run Chromium's own network code (Proxy support in Chrome). Services use WinHTTP, which has its own proxy, and many developer tools and UDP apps need their own setting. If one app works through the proxy and another does not, the second one is not reading the Settings proxy.

A provider fits a Windows PC that runs scraping tools and browsers when it passes the checks below; ProxyField residential does, with HTTP, HTTPS and SOCKS5 on one gateway (gate.proxyfield.io:7000), $2.95/GB for 1 GB down to $1.95/GB from 1,000 GB (the tier rate applies to the whole purchase), and a 1 GB Easy Trial for $2.95. Test every shortlisted provider the same way, on your PC. The comparison script below prints this (an example of the output's form, not a measurement):

proxyfield: <ok>/50 ok, median <seconds> s, <distinct IPs> IPs, [<countries>]
provider-b: <ok>/50 ok, median <seconds> s, <distinct IPs> IPs, [<countries>]

# compare_proxies.py: the same 50 requests through each proxy
import statistics, time, requests

PROXIES = {
    "proxyfield": "http://<login>-country-us-city-new_york:<password>@gate.proxyfield.io:7000",
    # "provider-b": "http://<login>:<password>@HOST:PORT",
}
URL = "https://ipinfo.io/json"   # or a page you really scrape

for name, proxy in PROXIES.items():
    ok, times, ips, countries = 0, [], set(), set()
    for _ in range(50):
        t = time.monotonic()
        try:
            r = requests.get(URL, proxies={"http": proxy, "https": proxy}, timeout=20)
        except requests.RequestException:
            continue
        if r.status_code == 200:
            ok += 1
            times.append(time.monotonic() - t)
            data = r.json()
            ips.add(data.get("ip"))
            countries.add(data.get("country"))
    median = statistics.median(times) if times else 0
    print(f"{name}: {ok}/50 ok, median {median:.2f} s, {len(ips)} IPs, {sorted(countries)}")

from playwright.sync_api import sync_playwright

with sync_playwright() as p:
    browser = p.chromium.launch(proxy={"server": "http://gate.proxyfield.io:7000",
        "username": "<login>-country-us-city-new_york", "password": "<password>"})
    page = browser.new_page()
    page.goto("https://api.ipify.org")
    print(page.inner_text("body"))  # an IP in New York, not yours
    browser.close()

Prices by volume (residential, the tier rate on the whole purchase, no subscription):

Pick the proxy type by the job:

The pool is clean for Google, checked and segmented. A proxy is not a VPN (proxy vs VPN); on a Mac, see Mac proxy settings. Use ProxyField for public pages only, and follow the site's terms.

The Settings proxy has no SOCKS5 option with a username and password, and Chrome supports no SOCKS5 login. You don't download SOCKS5 itself; you need an app that speaks it:

• An app's own setting: Firefox, Telegram, many scrapers and antidetect browsers take a SOCKS5 host, port and login.
• Proxifier routes chosen apps through SOCKS5 with a login, even apps with no proxy setting.

Route one app through SOCKS5 with Proxifier:

1. Open Profile → Proxy Servers → Add.
2. Enter address gate.proxyfield.io, port 7000, protocol SOCKS Version 5.
3. Tick Enable under authentication and enter your ProxyField username and password (the same as for HTTP). Select Check, then OK.
4. Open Profile → Proxification Rules → Add, list the app (for example chrome.exe), and set the action to that proxy.
5. Under Profile → Name Resolution, let the proxy resolve hostnames, so DNS lookups happen at the proxy's location.

When SOCKS5 is worth it over HTTP: SOCKS5 proxies.

The current user's system proxy (the Settings one), in PowerShell:

$key = "HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings"
Set-ItemProperty -Path $key -Name ProxyServer -Value "gate.proxyfield.io:7000"
Set-ItemProperty -Path $key -Name ProxyOverride -Value "localhost;127.0.0.1;<local>"
Set-ItemProperty -Path $key -Name ProxyEnable -Value 1

Set ProxyEnable to 0 to turn it off; restart open browsers.

Windows services (WinHTTP), in Command Prompt as administrator. WinHTTP takes no login, so services need the allowlist: <port> is the port you set up in the dashboard for your allowlisted IP.

netsh winhttp set proxy proxy-server="gate.proxyfield.io:<port>" bypass-list="<local>"
netsh winhttp import proxy source=ie
netsh winhttp show proxy
netsh winhttp reset proxy

import proxy source=ie copies the Settings proxy instead; reset proxy goes back to direct.

Command-line tools in the current window (setx keeps it for new ones):

set HTTP_PROXY=http://<login>:<password>@gate.proxyfield.io:7000
set HTTPS_PROXY=http://<login>:<password>@gate.proxyfield.io:7000

In PowerShell: $env:HTTPS_PROXY="http://<login>:<password>@gate.proxyfield.io:7000". In Windows PowerShell 5.1, curl is an alias, so type curl.exe -x http://gate.proxyfield.io:7000 -U "<login>-country-us-city-new_york:<password>" https://api.ipify.org. More in cURL, Python and Node.js.

1. Load https://api.ipify.org in a browser: the exit IP should not be yours.
2. Load https://ipinfo.io/json for the IP's city and country, then reload: a rotating username gives a new IP on every request; a sticky session keeps one for its ttl.
3. To test a proxy line first, use the proxy checker: up to 100 proxies per check; your list and results are not stored.

Open Settings → Network & internet → Proxy, select Edit (Windows 11) or find Manual proxy setup (Windows 10), turn off Use a proxy server, and save. For services, run netsh winhttp reset proxy. If it turns itself back on, an app or a company policy sets it again (see the FAQ).

Gateway error messages: 407 Proxy Authentication Required for a wrong login or password, an IP not on the allowlist or a malformed location, 402 Payment Required when no traffic is left and 502 Bad Gateway when no exit could be connected; a restricted site gets no separate response, and a 403 comes from the site itself. Status codes are explained in proxy errors. Our 24/7 live chat helps with setup and integration.

Start with the Easy Trial: 1 GB for $2.95, with no minimum purchase and no subscription. The traffic never expires and all purchases are final. See pricing per GB.

• Microsoft, Use a proxy server in Windows: the steps and labels.
• Microsoft Learn, Enabling Internet Functionality (WinINet), netsh winhttp and Use authenticated proxy servers.
• Microsoft Learn, Setting WinINet Proxy Configurations in WinHTTP, Microsoft Edge proxy settings and WebView2 Win32 Globals.
• Chromium, Proxy support in Chrome and the proxy sign-in strings in login_dialog_strings.grdp.
• Playwright, HTTP Proxy; Puppeteer, Page.authenticate(); Git, http.proxy.