Question

How to setup WPAD.DAT

Asked by: demazter

Hi All,
I am trying to configure WPAD.DAT as an automatic proxy configuration.

We have had a working PAC file for some time, so I have renamed this to wpad.dat and placed it on an internal webserver.

I have also configured DHCP with option 252 called WPAD with text http://webservername/wpad.dat I have also tried it with just http://webservername/

I have also configured a DNS entry with a CNAME record called WPAD for http://webservername/ and again I have also tried it with http://webservername/wpad.dat

I seem to get logs in the W3SVC1 folder on the webserver indicating that the file has been requested log entry here:

2009-06-01 07:42:02 W3SVC1 serverIP GET /wpad.dat - 80 - clientIP Windows-Update-Agent 404 3 64

However when I open the browser on the client machine it doesn't work.

If I try to put the URL into the web browser I get a 404:

HTTP Error 404 - File or directory not found.
Internet Information Services (IIS)

If I rename the file to a txt file it opens OK.

Anyone got any ideas?

Thanks
Glen

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Asked On
2009-06-01 at 00:46:03ID24452660
Tags

proxy

,

WPAD

Topics

Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP)

,

Domain Name Service (DNS)

,

Windows 2003 Server

Participating Experts
1
Points
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Comments
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Answers

 

by: Raj-GTPosted on 2009-06-01 at 01:21:35ID: 24515703

You need to register .dat as a valid MIME type in IIS.

Open IIS Manager and right click SERVERNAME and select properties. Edit MIME Types and add .dat as a valid MIME type. Use .dat for extension and "application/x-ns-proxy-autoconfig" for MIME type.

Restart IIS and it should work as it should.

 

by: demazterPosted on 2009-06-01 at 02:05:15ID: 24515865

Thank you.
Can you confirm if the DNS/DHCP entries should have wpad.dat on the end of should they just be the URL where to find it?

Thanks
Glen

 

by: Raj-GTPosted on 2009-06-01 at 02:32:54ID: 24515959

I would recommend using the DNS for WPAD as there are some limitations to using DHCP, especially with older clients.

The CNAME record you create should just point to the hostname of your IIS server hosting the WPAD.DAT file. No "http://" or "wpad.dat" etc. just the WEBSERVERNAME.

If you are using DHCP however, you should use the full URL for the WPAD file "http://webservername/wpad.dat"

Hope this helps.

Raj

 

by: demazterPosted on 2009-06-01 at 03:17:59ID: 24516126

OK, excellent, that seems to work but with one limitation.
It doesn't seem to work on IE8?

If I enter it as the configuration file on IE8 it seems to work but not if I allow it to automatically detect?

Any ideas?

 

by: Raj-GTPosted on 2009-06-01 at 03:25:11ID: 24516153

Did you test it from multiple machines? I am using IE8 here with "Automatic Proxy Detection" without any problems. Perhaps you should clear the IE8 cache and try again?

 

by: demazterPosted on 2009-06-01 at 05:06:54ID: 24516648

OK, I think I have got to the bottom of it.
It works OK with Windows XP.
I tried it on Windows Vista and Windows 7 both with IE8 and it didn't work, however if I logon to the computer as a user that hasn't logged on to the user and doesn't have a roaming profile, make the setting and it works OK.

I have just cleared my local profile completely (and broke it as it's Windows 7) and it seemed to work when I logged back in.

Any ideas why it is not dynamically changing on Windows Vista/7?

 

by: Raj-GTPosted on 2009-06-01 at 05:47:57ID: 24516893

Are you using Group Policies to enable "Automatic Proxy Detection" in IE? Maybe it would help to enable the GPO setting to "Disable caching of Auto-Proxy scripts" under User configuration > Admin template > Windows Components > Internet Explorer.

Thanks,
Raj

 

by: demazterPosted on 2009-06-01 at 05:54:56ID: 24516938

OK thanks,
I will accept the solution now, the users I have been testing on are not applying any GPO's but I think I have tested enough machines that it is now working.

Thanks you for you help.

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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