How do I get file_get_contents or cURL working behind a proxy?

Hello.

I was wondering if anyone had any advice with using PHP behind a proxy. We have an internal server (running Windows Server 2003) that serves our internal PHP (5.3.3) sites, both internally and externally (via HTTPS). I am trying to get a component called Joomdle working that will connect our Joomla 2.5.1 installation with our Moodle 1.9.12.

Whilst trying to get Joomdle working (which uses either file_get_contents or cURL), I ran into an issue that I haven't experienced before. The functions don't work because of some kind of authentication/authorisation issue and I'm not sure what to do to fix the problem.

I have set up a very simple test.php page that uses file_get_contents to return the data from our internal site (http://portal/) and stores it into a variable that is then echoed. Unfortunately, when I use the following code I get an error message which leads me to believe it could be a proxy server issue:

PHP:

<?php
$data = file_get_contents('http://portal/');
echo $data;
?>

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Error:

Warning: file_get_contents(http://portal/) [function.file-get-contents]: failed to open stream: HTTP request failed! HTTP/1.1 401 Unauthorized in F:\Inetpub\wwwroot\portal2\test.php on line 2

I also tried forcing the script through our proxy server:

PHP:

<?php
$opts = array('http' => array('proxy' => 'tcp://192.168.0.39:801', 'request_fulluri' => true));
$context = stream_context_create($opts);
$data = file_get_contents('http://portal/', false, $context);
echo $data;
?>

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Error:

Warning: file_get_contents(http://portal/) [function.file-get-contents]: failed to open stream: HTTP request failed! HTTP/1.0 403 Forbidden in F:\Inetpub\wwwroot\portal2\test.php on line 4

I have also tried returning the data for http://www.google.com, http://www.bbc.co.uk and our corporate website http://www.landau-forte.org.uk, all of which fail with this error message:

Error:

Warning: file_get_contents(http://www.landau-forte.org.uk/) [function.file-get-contents]: failed to open stream: A connection attempt failed because the connected party did not properly respond after a period of time, or established connection failed because connected host has failed to respond. in F:\Inetpub\wwwroot\portal2\test.php on line 2

I have asked our admins to provide me with unfiltered access through the proxy, which they have, but it still returns the same error messages. I have been making the proxy server changes in Internet Options on the server, is this right? Also, just to point out, none of the websites I am trying to get the contents for are password protected and I can access them via IE on the server.

As I will be using third party scripts, I don't want to have to edit the code to include a proxy server when using file_get_contents or cURL.

Does anyone have any advice on how to get around this or do you need any more information?

Many thanks,
James