Internet Explorer 7 - Automatic Configuration File

[Caledai]

Hi All.

I had an autoconfig file setup that works in firefox 1.5, and worked in Internet Explorer 6SP2.

I upgraded to IE 7 Beta 2 and it no longer works.

While this is still beta software, does anyone else have a solution for this.

It was setup to point to "file://d:\system\proxy.pac" I have tried various variations. file:///d:/system/proxy.pac, file://d:/system/proxy.pac and even attempted to add it to the trusted zone with no effect - you cant add a local path to trusted zone.

I can manually set the proxy to the location - but considering my proxy.pac file has over 8 different proxy's and handles the exceptions based upon location and ip address I would prefer to use this.

I can run a local webserver to set this proxy via http://localhost/proxy.pac but this is not practical on a laptop as the primary server i have is apache and I run as little as possible to conserver power.

This affects any application which uses the Internet Explorer proxy configuration to access the internet, such as MSN Messenger - which also seems to be having more problems after the latests update.

Any Ideas?

Edited March 12, 2006 by caledai

[Caledai]

Hey - sorry to bump this but its kind of a problem at multiple locations.

I have supplied the code used to select the various proxies below, minus the start/end of the file - basically for security reasons - the start contains a large number of network ranges/ip addresses that are better off not public.

if (isPlainHostName(host) || shExpMatch(url, "*localhost*")|| shExpMatch(url, "*127.0.0.1*")) {return DIRECT;}

else if (isInNet(myIp,range[],subnet[])) {return proxy[];}

else if (isInNet(myIp,range[2],subnet[1]) || isInNet(myIp,range[1],subnet[]) ||

isInNet(myIp,range[3],subnet[]) || isInNet(myIp,range[5],subnet[]))

{

if (shExpMatch(url, "*.vic.gov.au*") || shExpMatch(url, "*.vic.edu.au*") || shExpMatch(url, "*10.*")) {return DIRECT;}

else if (shExpMatch(url, "*.backend.deviantart.com*") || shExpMatch(url, "*.freeserverhost.com*")) {return proxy[8];}

else if (isInNet(myIp,range[2],subnet[1])) {return proxy[2];}

else if (isInNet(myIp,range[1],subnet[])) {return proxy[1];}

else if (isInNet(myIp,range[3],subnet[])) {return proxy[5];}

else if (isInNet(myIp,range[4],subnet[])) {return proxy[4];}

else {return proxy[3];}

}

else if (isInNet(myIp,range[8],subnet[]) || isInNet(myIp,range[9],subnet[]) || isInNet(myIp,range[10],subnet[]))

{if (shExpMatch(url,"*.unimelb.edu.au*")) {return DIRECT;}

else {return proxy[6];}}

else if (isInNet(myIp,range[5],subnet[])||isInNet(myIp,range[6],subnet[]) || isInNet(myIp,range[7],subnet[]))

{if (shExpMatch(url, "*.unimelb.edu.au*")) {return DIRECT;}

else {return proxy[7];}}

else{return DIRECT;}

[Ambroos]

send me your pac file ([email protected]) i will upload to my webserver. I'll mail you the link back.

[Caledai]

send me your pac file ([email protected]) i will upload to my webserver. I'll mail you the link back.

Thanks for the offer but the issue is with a web server - the issue is that it no longer uses file://d:\system\proxy.pac as a valid location for the proxy.pac

I have apache installed, and also Sami HTTP Server [Port 81 - Only proxy.pac] so I can host it myself, but the problem with running a web server on a laptop is that it affects my battery life, for something I don't use that often - only when I have problems with firefox. So my process is this - If I am not at home, I fire up Sami HTTP Server, then fire up IE.

Under IE6SP2 - My proxy pac was locally referenced, and it worked perfectly.

Microsoft it seems has got too clever with there internet detection, MSN Messenger, Windows Messenger have had problems ever since 7.5 and 5.2? with the internet on my laptop as I am quite often behind firewalls where I need to use this to get out - no transparent proxies.

Hell - I was using a version of MSN at uni with the local pac file in the internet config, the username/password in messenger, and upgraded on the spot there at uni - the new version couldn't connect - it gets gateway is offline errors - which doesn't make sence considering the old version connected - I can ping my gateway and access the internet. I think IE7 has implemented this same detection technique.

As a lot of programs reference the internet control panel for proxy settings, WMP, Yahoo Widgets, Trillian, MSN, WinMsgr, Gaim etc this can be a significant issue if it continues to a full IE7 release.