How to Set Up a Datacenter Proxy on Windows

Windows 11:

1. Open Settings → Network & Internet → Proxy

Windows 10:

1. Open Settings → Network & Internet → Proxy

Or press Win + R, type ms-settings:network-proxy, press Enter.

Turn off Automatically detect settings unless your provider gives you a WPAD/PAC URL. Automatic detection adds latency and can conflict with manual configuration.

Toggle Use a proxy server to On.

Enter the proxy details from your SparkProxy dashboard:

• Address: your-proxy.sparkproxy.io (or the IP provided)
• Port: 10000 (varies by plan)

If using username-password authentication, see the per-app configuration section, Windows Settings does not support embedding credentials in the proxy address field.

In the Don't use the proxy server for field, enter addresses that should connect directly:

localhost;127.0.0.1;*.internal.corp;<-loopback>

Use semicolons to separate entries. The <-loopback> token bypasses Windows loopback addresses.

Click Save. Changes apply immediately to all new connections; existing connections are not affected.

netsh winhttp show advproxy

If no proxy is set, you see: Direct access (no proxy server).

The set proxy command is deprecated as of Windows 11 24H2. Use set advproxy with JSON settings:

netsh winhttp set advproxy setting-scope=machine settings="{\"Proxy\":\"your-proxy.sparkproxy.io:10000\",\"ProxyBypass\":\"<local>;localhost\",\"AutoconfigUrl\":\"\",\"AutoDetect\":false}"

setting-scope options:

• machine, applies to all users and services (requires admin, persists across reboots)
• user, applies to the current user session only

For most datacenter proxy deployments on a dedicated scraping server, use setting-scope=machine.

netsh winhttp set proxy proxy-server="your-proxy.sparkproxy.io:10000" bypass-list="<local>;localhost"

If you have already configured proxy in Windows Settings and want WinHTTP to match:

netsh winhttp import proxy source=ie

netsh winhttp reset proxy

netsh winhttp show advproxy

Expected output after setting a proxy:

Current WinHTTP proxy settings:
    Proxy Server(s) :  your-proxy.sparkproxy.io:10000
    Bypass List     :  <local>;localhost

# Set proxy (runs as current user, WinINet store)
$regPath = "HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings"

Set-ItemProperty -Path $regPath -Name "ProxyEnable" -Value 1 -Type DWord
Set-ItemProperty -Path $regPath -Name "ProxyServer" -Value "your-proxy.sparkproxy.io:10000"
Set-ItemProperty -Path $regPath -Name "ProxyOverride" -Value "localhost;127.0.0.1;<local>"

Write-Host "WinINet proxy configured."

$regPath = "HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings"
Get-ItemProperty -Path $regPath | Select-Object ProxyEnable, ProxyServer, ProxyOverride

Expected output:

ProxyEnable  ProxyServer                          ProxyOverride
-----------  -----------                          -------------
          1  your-proxy.sparkproxy.io:10000      localhost;127.0.0.1;<local>

$regPath = "HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings"
Set-ItemProperty -Path $regPath -Name "ProxyEnable" -Value 0 -Type DWord

WinHTTP has no native PowerShell cmdlet. Call netsh from PowerShell:

# Must run as Administrator
$proxy = "your-proxy.sparkproxy.io:10000"
$bypass = "<local>;localhost"

netsh winhttp set proxy proxy-server=$proxy bypass-list=$bypass

# Verify
netsh winhttp show proxy

Set these in your shell session or CI/CD environment:

# PowerShell session
$env:HTTP_PROXY  = "http://user:pass@your-proxy.sparkproxy.io:10000"
$env:HTTPS_PROXY = "http://user:pass@your-proxy.sparkproxy.io:10000"
$env:NO_PROXY    = "localhost,127.0.0.1"

:: CMD session
set HTTP_PROXY=http://user:pass@your-proxy.sparkproxy.io:10000
set HTTPS_PROXY=http://user:pass@your-proxy.sparkproxy.io:10000

Most tools, curl, Python requests, git, npm, pip, read these variables automatically.

curl --proxy http://user:pass@your-proxy.sparkproxy.io:10000 https://httpbin.org/ip

Or with IP whitelisting (no credentials needed in the URL):

curl --proxy your-proxy.sparkproxy.io:10000 https://httpbin.org/ip

import requests

proxies = {
    "http":  "http://user:pass@your-proxy.sparkproxy.io:10000",
    "https": "http://user:pass@your-proxy.sparkproxy.io:10000",
}

response = requests.get("https://httpbin.org/ip", proxies=proxies)
print(response.json())  # {"origin": "<proxy exit IP>"}

$proxy = "http://your-proxy.sparkproxy.io:10000"
$cred  = Get-Credential  # prompts for username/password

Invoke-WebRequest -Uri "https://httpbin.org/ip" `
                  -Proxy $proxy `
                  -ProxyCredential $cred

For IP-whitelisted proxies (no credentials):

Invoke-WebRequest -Uri "https://httpbin.org/ip" `
                  -Proxy "http://your-proxy.sparkproxy.io:10000" `
                  -UseDefaultCredentials

git config --global http.proxy http://user:pass@your-proxy.sparkproxy.io:10000
git config --global https.proxy http://user:pass@your-proxy.sparkproxy.io:10000

Remove proxy:

git config --global --unset http.proxy
git config --global --unset https.proxy

curl https://httpbin.org/ip

The origin field should show your proxy's datacenter IP, not your local machine IP.

(Invoke-WebRequest https://api.ipify.org?format=json).Content

Compare the returned IP against your provider's IP list to confirm the correct exit node.

:: Check that Windows Update-style traffic routes through proxy
netsh winhttp show advproxy

:: Download a small file through WinHTTP
bitsadmin /transfer testjob https://httpbin.org/ip "%temp%\proxy-test.txt"
type "%temp%\proxy-test.txt"

curl -I --proxy http://user:pass@your-proxy.sparkproxy.io:10000 https://httpbin.org/headers

A Via or X-Forwarded-For header confirms traffic passed through the proxy.