Netsh Commands for Windows Hypertext Transfer Protocol (WINHTTP)

  • Article

Applies To: Windows Server 2008

You can use commands in the netsh winhttp context to configure proxy and tracing settings for Windows HTTP. The Netsh commands for winhttp can be run manually at the netsh prompt or in scripts and batch files.

To run these commands from the command prompt, you must either enter the netsh winhttp context or prepend the context to the command. For example, if you are at the command prompt but have not typed netsh and then winhttp to enter the netsh winhttp context, you must type:

netsh winhttp command

Where command is the command that you want to run, including all of the required parameters for the command.

For information on how to interpret netsh command syntax, see Formatting Legend.

This section contains the following commands:

  • flush logbuffer

  • import proxy

  • reset proxy

  • reset tracing

  • set proxy

  • set tracing

  • show proxy

  • show tracing

Netsh winhttp commands

The following entries provide details for each command.

flush logbuffer

Flushes the internal buffers for the log files.

Syntax

flush loggbuffer

import proxy

Imports the proxy settings in the Internet Explorer Web browser's Internet Options. Importing settings from IE is the only available option

Syntax

import proxy source =ie

reset proxy

Resets the WinHTTP proxy setting to DIRECT.

Syntax

reset proxy

reset tracing

Resets the WinHTTP trace parameters to the default settings.

Syntax

reset tracing

Remarks

Following are the default WinHTTP trace parameters:

Parameter Value 
Tracing State
 
Disabled
 
trace-file-prefix
 
None
 
output
 
File
 
level
 
Default
 
format
 
Ansi
 
max-trace-file-size
 
65535

set proxy

Configures the WinHTTP proxy setting.

Syntax

set proxy [proxy-server=] ProxyServerName [bypass-list=] <HostsList>

Parameters

  • Proxy-Server
    Required. Specifies the proxy server to use for http, secure http (https), or both http and https protocols.
  • Bypass-list
    Optional. Specifies a list of Web sites that should be visited without utilizing the proxy server. Use "<local>" to bypass all short name hosts.

Examples

Following are three examples of how to use the set proxy command.

set proxy myproxy
set proxy myproxy:80 "<local>bar"
set proxy proxy-server="http=myproxy;https=sproxy:88" bypass-list="*.contoso.com"

set tracing

Configures the WinHTTP tracing parameters.

Syntax

set tracing [output=] file | debugger | both [trace-file-prefix=] FilePrefix [level=] default | verbose [format=] ansi | hex [max-trace-file-size=] FileSize [state=] enabled |disabled

Parameters:

  • Output
    Optional. Specifies whether tracing data is exported to a file, a debugger, or both.
  • Trace-file-prefix
    Optional. Specifies a string value that is a prefix for the log file. The file prefix can include a folder location/path. Type "*" to delete an existing prefix.
  • Level
    Optional. Specifies the amount of information to log.
  • Format
    Optional. Specifies the display format of network traffic (hexadecimal or ansi).
  • Max-trace-file-size
    Optional. Specifies a numeric value that is the maximum size of the trace file in bytes.
  • State
    Required. Specifies whether tracing is enabled or disabled.

Examples

Following are two examples of how to use the set tracing command.

set tracing trace-file-prefix="C:\Temp\Test3" level=verbose format=hex
set tracing output=debugger max-trace-file-size=512000 state=enabled

show proxy

Displays the current WinHTTP proxy setting.

Syntax

show proxy

show tracing

Displays the current WinHTTP tracing parameters.

Syntax

show tracing