How to set a proxy on Windows 11 and 10

Your proxy details

After you buy a plan, open My proxies. Choose the Proxy Type (Rotating or Sticky), the Protocol (HTTP or SOCKS5) and a Format, then copy a line. The generator offers three formats:

In the examples on this page, replace USERNAME, PASSWORD, HOST and PORT with the values from your line. SOCKS5_PORT is the port the generator shows when you pick SOCKS5.

Residential lines are either rotating (a new IP on new connections) or sticky (one IP for the time you choose). Datacenter and ISP plans give you a list of dedicated IPs, one per line as IP:PORT:USERNAME:PASSWORD, and each line is one fixed IP.

To test a line, open https://ipinfo.io/json through it: it shows the exit IP and country. For HTTP lines you can also use the free proxy checker.

Set the system proxy

1. 1Open Settings → Network & internet → Proxy.
2. 2Under Manual proxy setup, next to Use a proxy server, select Set up.
3. 3Turn on Use a proxy server.
4. 4Enter HOST in Proxy IP address (a hostname works too) and PORT in Port.
5. 5Keep Don’t use the proxy server for local (intranet) addresses ticked, add any sites to skip to the exceptions box (separated by semicolons), and select Save.
6. 6Open https://ipinfo.io/json in Edge or Chrome and enter USERNAME and PASSWORD when asked.

Note: To switch it off, go back to the same place and turn Use a proxy server off.

Command-line tools

Many command-line tools ignore the Windows setting but read environment variables. In PowerShell, set them for the current window:

$env:HTTPS_PROXY = "http://USERNAME:PASSWORD@HOST:PORT"
$env:HTTP_PROXY  = "http://USERNAME:PASSWORD@HOST:PORT"
curl.exe https://ipinfo.io/json

Apps that ignore the system proxy

Games, some desktop apps and apps that need SOCKS5 don’t use the Windows proxy setting. Route them with Proxifier, which also handles the username and password.

Choose the country

On residential plans, add -country- and a two-letter country code to the end of the username, for example USERNAME-country-us or USERNAME-country-gb. To combine a country with a state, a city or a sticky session, build the line in the generator, which shows only the options your plan supports. Datacenter and ISP IPs have a fixed location that you choose when you buy them.

Tips

• Use a sticky line for the system proxy. A rotating line can give different apps and connections different IPs.
• A VPN connection has its own proxy settings under Network & internet → VPN; set the proxy there if you use one.

Troubleshooting

• Apps lose their connection after you save

  The host or port is wrong. Check them, or switch the proxy off and test with curl.More on this error →

• Apps never ask for the password and fail

  Those apps can’t answer a proxy login. Use Proxifier, or an allow-listed IP if your plan supports login by IP.More on this error →

• Wrong country

  Set the country in the generator or add -country-xx to the username on residential plans, then check https://ipinfo.io/json.More on this error →

Seeing another error? Read proxy errors and how to fix them, or contact support.

Questions