Clearing Windows proxy from PowerShell

The Problem

The Windows Server 2022 Core VM we were working with had a http proxy set but the OpenShift cluster was in an environment that did not need a proxy. Using the top google hits we were unable to clear the “advproxy” settings.

C:\> netsh winhttp show proxy
Current WinHTTP proxy settings:

    Direct access (no proxy server).

C:\> netsh winhttp show advproxy
{
        "Proxy":        "localhost:8080",
        "ProxyBypass":  "*"
}

Using netsh winhttp reset proxy only cleared the proxy settings. It did NOT clear the advproxy settings.

The solution

Create a JSON file with the settings required for netsh winhttp set advproxy command.

PS C:\Users\Administrator> New-Item proxy.json
    Directory: C:\Users\Administrator

Mode                 LastWriteTime         Length Name
----                 -------------         ------ ----
-a----        11/14/2022   4:05 PM              0 proxy.json

PS C:\Users\Administrator> Set-Content .\proxy.json '{"Proxy": "", "ProxyBypass": "", "AutoconfigUrl": "", "AutoDetect": false}'
PS C:\Users\Administrator> Get-Content proxy.json
{"Proxy": ""}

Then execute the netsh command below:

netsh winhttp set advproxy setting-scope=machine settings-file=proxy.json

Current WinHTTP advanced proxy settings:

{
}

Thank You

I do not know the difference between the two settings, just know they both influence the system.

Originally published on Revo Place.