C:\> reg query "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings" /v ProxyEnable


HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings
    ProxyEnable    REG_DWORD    0x0

C:\>

The 0x0 represents hexadecimal value zero and that value indicates the system is not currently configured to use a proxy server. A value of one, i.e., 0x1, indicates it is currently configured to use a proxy server.

Even if the value is 0, you can determine if a proxy server had previously been set that will be used again if you set the value to 1 by using the reg query command below.

C:\>reg query "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings" /v ProxyServer

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings
    ProxyServer    REG_SZ    socks=127.0.0.1:1080


C:\>

In the example above, if the value is set to 1, i.e., the system is reconfigured to use a proxy server, a SOCKS proxy server will be used that is listening on the localhost address, i.e., 127.0.0.1 on the SOCKS proxy registered port, i.e., TCP port 1080. E.g., a SOCKS proxy could be set up with PuTTY, a free Secure Shell (SSH) client program.

To enable a proxy server, a reg add command can be used as shown below.

C:\>reg add "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings" /v ProxyEnable /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f
The operation completed successfully.

C:\>

In the example above, since the proxy server setting was set to be a SOCKS proxy, any browser, such as Edge or Firefox, if it was configured to use the system wide proxy settings, would now route web traffic through the proxy server.

Related:

1. Checking Microsoft Windows proxy server settings
   Created: Wednesday January 7, 2015
   Last modified: Saturday June 27, 2015
   MoonPoint Support
2. Finding the proxy setting for Firefox from a command line
   Created: Saturday November 15, 2014
   Last modified: Sunday November 16, 2014
   MoonPoint Support

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