Documentation for WinProxy

Trouble Shooting

This guide is designed to assist if you encounter any problems while using WinProxy. Find a statement that describes the trouble you're having and follow the tips provided.

WinProxy doesn't seem to install properly

Reinstall WinProxy from the original disk or download the file again. Don't uninstall the program before you do this. The Install program (from WinProxy 3.0 and up) has some intelligent trouble-shooting built into it. Thus, it will attempt to repair any problems originating from the initial installation.

1. Don't be alarmed when WinProxy reboots the system. The re-install requires WinProxy to execute at least two reboots while uninstalling/reinstalling selected components and correcting any problems it might find.
2. In Windows 95/98/2000/Me/XP, the reboots will probably progress automatically. If not, you'll be presented with a dialogue box asking you to reboot. Do so.
3. In Windows NT, there are many instances where the reboot will not progress automatically. Watch for the dialogue boxes. When you're asked to reboot, please do.
4. If you're still having trouble, take a look at your other network drivers. If you see some weird drivers that you don't use, remove them (don't remove any Deterministic drivers-that's us!). We've had some problem with some of the more rare network drivers (like the IRDA driver, although we've already fixed that one) running at the same time. Once you've removed the old drivers, re-install the program.

WinProxy works fine the old way, but the new stuff doesn't work

Folks who are already using WinProxy 2.1 and older will already have settings (both in WinProxy and in their client applications) for operation through a Classic Proxy. If things work fine this way, but you can't make your browsers or mail programs work without putting in proxy settings, then the NAT drivers may not be loading properly. Take a look under WinProxy/Help/About. A couple of lines down you'll find information about the Transparent Proxy (which uses the NAT drivers).

1. If you see version information, then the drivers have loaded. The problem is most likely with IP addressing instead, especially the Gateway setting on your client computers. A gateway setting is not needed for Classic Proxy operation (like you had with version 2.1) but it is required for operation through the NAT and Trans parent Proxy.
2. If the "About" box reports that Transparent Proxy hasn't loaded, do a reinstall of WinProxy as shown in the first Trouble-Shooting entry, above.

WinProxy complains about my IP address when it starts

When WinProxy starts, it looks for any IP addresses on your system. You must have two network connections on the WinProxy machine if it's to do its job. Usually, those two connections are a network card and dial-up adapter (for dial-up users) or two network cards (for cable and DSL modem users). If it doesn't find any addresses, or if the internal address has changed since the last time WinProxy ran, it will let you know that there's a problem. A few things to keep in mind:

1. IP addresses cannot be set from within WinProxy. Addresses are assigned to cards via the operating system. WinProxy asks the operating system for the IP addresses, and lets you know what it finds.
2. Take a look under WinProxy/Settings/General/Internal IP to see which addresses WinProxy finds. If more than one is found, the "multiple IP" button will be enabled.
3. If no IP address is showing in the Internal IP box, hit the drop-down button and take a look at the listing there. If you see your internal network connection listed, highlight it and check to see if it shows in the Internal IP box when you close the drop-down menu.
4. If the address 127.0.0.1 shows up there, then either
5. 1. You have the internal network card on the WinProxy machine set to "obtain automatically" instead of being statically assigned; this address is the one address on your whole system that must be statically assigned.
   2. You have an address assigned, but it still shows as 127.0.0.1 (or it doesn't show at all) in the Internal IP box. This means that there's a problem with the network card, or with tcp/ip on that system, or that you haven't rebooted the system since assigning the number (under Windows 95/98/NT and Me you must reboot for new network settings to take effect).

I can't seem to connect through WinProxy to the Internet

Start off by breaking this problem in half. Determine if the cause derives from 1) connecting from WinProxy to the Internet; or, 2) connecting from an application (like a browser) to WinProxy.

1. In WinProxy, run the Install Wizard at WinProxy/File/Install Wizard. At the end of the three or four screens it steps through, there's a page entitled "Verifying WinProxy Setup" where it attempts to connect to the Internet. If WinProxy puts a check mark in the box "Verifying communication with the Internet"-it may take a few minutes to accomplish this-then WinProxy was successful in sending and receiving packets via the Internet.
2. 1. If unsuccessful, verify that you have Internet connectivity without WinProxy.
   2. If you can connect without WinProxy, but WinProxy cannot connect, double-check the IP addresses listed in WinProxy. Be sure you have properly designated them as Internal (meaning for your own local network) or External (meaning your Internet connection) addresses.
3. Open a browser, and type in the URL http://proxy.command. You should get a response back immediately from WinProxy which shows a page with your Remote Admin choices. If you've entered an administrative password in WinProxy, though, the proof of connection will be that it asks for a password.
4. 1. If you cannot connect this way, then make sure that the client machine has an IP address and can ping the WinProxy machine, and that (a) for Transparent Proxy connections, the client machine has the WinProxy internal IP address listed as its Gateway address, the browser is set to use the LAN and not a modem, and WinProxy has Transparent Proxy enabled; or that (b) for Classic Proxy connections, the browser is set to use a proxy, has the WinProxy IP address in the proxy settings boxes, and the port in the browser http, security, and ftp proxy settings matches the CERN proxy port in WinProxy (default is port 80).
   2. If you have previously installed a proxy, NAT, or firewall on your system-particularly those requiring software installation on the client machines as well as on the server-then you must remove that soft ware from all machines, because many will interfere with normal TCP/IP operation. The most com mon symptom when this happens is that ping and (often) NetBeui/Network Neighborhood will work, but not TCP/IP.

My browser won't connect to the Internet

425 Errors

Instead of downloading a web page, all you get from your browser is a 425 "can't connect" error message. A 425 generally indicates that the name lookup (DNS) has succeeded, but the actual connection has not. When a browser on one of your client machines won't connect during your initial setup, the three most common causes are:

1. IP addressing errors: An error exists in the IP addressing of either the WinProxy machine or the client machine, or both. Use the ping utility to check your TCP/IP connections. See Chapter 4 ("Testing TCP/IP Connectivity") for more information about ping and how to use it.
2. Ping works, but the browser still reports a 425 error: Transparent Proxy has been disabled in WinProxy, or the local machine has an incorrect Gateway address (those two are required for Transparent Proxy connec tions), or the browser has not yet been configured to use a proxy (required for a Classic Proxy connection). Refer to the section on configuring your browsers.
3. Ping works, and the browser is configured.
4. 1. You can reach sites within your Service Provider's domain, but you get a 425 when you try to go to any other site: Your Service Provider has a proxy, too, and is using it to provide your Internet Service (this is common outside North America, and also for some cable modem providers). You'll have to enable Proxy Cascading (at WinProxy/File/Settings/General); you'll need to know the IP address and port of their proxy server in order to configure it.
   2. Sometimes you can reach a site, and sometimes not:
   3. • If it's the default home site, try setting your browser to a different home site. The default home sites-the ones preset in the browsers-get overloaded every few months and stay that way until the servers are upgraded. There are millions of browsers accessing those default sites.
      • For other sites, look for high packet loss rates (a loss rate of 5% is enough to give you a lot of 425 errors). You can use Ping to investigate your packet loss rate. Another possibility is that the TTL set ting (Time To Live; it's a registry setting for how many hops your system allows for TCP/IP packets) is too low. As the Internet gets more crowded, the default settings for this are not always adequate. You can use a "packet-tuner" program like or MTUSpeed to inspect and change these settings.
5. Access is disabled within "Users" in WinProxy. This will give 425 and the additional message "You are not authorized to use the xxx protocol through WinProxy". The machine trying to get access has been specifi cally denied access as one of the user groups defined under the 'Users' tab, OR you have inadvertently enabled the option 'Refuse access unless specifically permitted' (also on the Users tab) and then forgotten to allow access from this machine.

430 Errors

A 430 error generally indicates that the name lookup (DNS) has failed. You browser has not yet tried to connect to the site. When it asked the system what the numeric address for a site was (that's what DNS does for you), it- or WinProxy-didn't get an answer. Without that information, it can't even attempt a connection.

1. If socks is enabled on your browser proxy settings, try turning it off. Browsers will use socks preferentially if it's listed. If your local DNS is not working correctly, the socks connection will fail.
2. You need to have DNS configured on every machine (not just the WinProxy machine) for many functions to work correctly. Take a look at the chapter on DNS for instructions on how to configure it, or you can set the IP settings on your clients to "obtain automatically," and WinProxy will supply those clients with IP settings (including DNS information). See the chapter on DNS for instructions on using a Ping variant to check your local DNS.
3. Some cable companies require that the domain name on your proxy computer match their own domain name. Try putting their domain name in WinProxy under the DNS settings, and also in the network settings under Control Panel/Network/TCP/DNS.

I keep getting password errors when I try to get e-mail

WinProxy itself does not ask you for passwords for your email. That request is coming from one of two places, either the mail server you're trying to reach or from the application itself.

Most email applications remember the email password for you. However, if the password ever fails the application asks for it again-and it will ask every time you try to get mail until the password succeeds.

The mail server (which, for most people, is the ISP's mail server) will ask your application for a password. This request passes unchanged through WinProxy, and your email application passes it along to you. The password is often not the same as the password you use to connect to your ISP, and it's usually case-sensitive. If the email server is asking for a password, then you're connecting to the email server.

I can receive e-mail, but I get errors when sending e-mail

More and more users are seeing errors like "Relaying not permitted" or "Transport not available" when attempting to send email. These reported errors are the result of more and more ISP's installing anti-spamming measures on mail servers.

1. Many ISPs won't permit you to send email unless you are physically connected to their modem bank. Send ing email to their servers via another ISP or Internet Connection is not permitted.
2. Many ISPs will reject your email if your return address domain does not match their own domain name. In the Reply To and Return Address fields, make sure to use their domain name, or one that you've registered with them (for an email address likejoeuser@isp.com, "isp.com" is the domain name).

WinProxy won't dial out

Take a look at the modem information line next to "Current Connections" on the WinProxy main screen. If the info line says "modem in use by another program," then WinProxy cannot invoke Dial-up Networking to dial out. You'll need to figure out what that other program is and resolve the conflict.

If you're attempting your initial connection with a program using the Socks protocol, WinProxy won't dial unless this option is enabled: "Connect to the Internet for UDP and DNS queries." Be prepared for ghost dialing if you enable this option; it can be triggered by network activity invisible to the user.

Check the "time window" under Dial-Up Setup. If you're outside the window, WinProxy won't dial. A browser receives a message to that effect, but other programs won't; all the user sees is that the program doesn't dial out.

WinProxy dials too often

Check to see if you have the "persistent connection" option set, and are within the time band configured. If so, WinProxy dials immediately when it enters the specified time period, and whenever the connection is lost.

Check to see if you have the option "Connect to the Internet for UDP and DNS queries" enabled. If so, you'll see WinProxy dial often for no apparent reason. A lot of random network activity uses these two protocols, and they'll force the dialing.

Look at your mail programs, including those in the browsers: many contain default settings to check the mail every five or ten minutes.

And, check to see if you have IE5 on your WinProxy machine. Whenever IE on the WinProxy machine is set to use a modem instead of the LAN, it will intercept TCP traffic and dial for you. WinProxy's installation changes that setting to "use the LAN," but if you upgrade your IE it will change it back. IE5 in particular seems to have a bug where it spontaneously reverts to "use a modem" no matter what setting you have put in there.

WinProxy doesn't hang up

Since WinProxy can't tell if a browser or other application is open-but can ascertain that it's actively communicating-it must rely on an inactivity timer to decide when to hang up. Check the setting of your inactivity timer under Dial-Up Setup.

Check the modem information line in the main window. If it says "modem in use by another program," then WinProxy will not hang up. It's possible that the user is "the other program;" if you invoked DUN yourself to establish the connection, WinProxy assumes that you know what you're doing and won't interfere with the connection. If you want WinProxy to take control of a modem connection no matter who starts it, enable the option "Always own the connection" under WinProxy/File/Settings/General/DialUp.

Watch the "idle time" indicator on the modem information line. Many mail programs-including those in the browsers-have a default setting to check the mail every five minutes. If that idle timer is getting reset every few minutes, look around. News alert programs and time refresh programs can also do this, even if they fail to connect: a mere attempt to connect resets the inactivity timer. Take a look at the little icons in your System Tray, too. Many such programs always run in the background.

WinProxy hangs up too much

The inactivity timer works only on those connections it knows about. Take a look at the main WinProxy screen. If a connection shows up in that window, then WinProxy knows about it. If it doesn't show up-NAT connections, for instance, won't show-change it to Transparent Proxy under Client Access Method.

I can't get AOL, AOL Instant Messenger, ICQ, or mIRC to work

All of these programs rely on the Socks protocol to support operation behind a proxy. You'll need to enable Socks in WinProxy, and set up DNS on your local network to make them work. AOLIM, mIRC and other chat programs work through Transparent Proxy with no additional setup; for ICQ you'll need to enable the proxy and socks settings within ICQ.

I keep getting errors about Java applets

Many Java applets require that DNS be set up on your local system.

I have trouble with secure connections on some sites

Not all websites use the standard ports (443 and 563) for secure connections. If they use a different port, enable the option "Permit Secure connections on non-standard ports" under Settings/Protocols/HTTP.

Another source of trouble-especially if you have to log in to the site-can occur if you don't have DNS working properly all the way to the client machine you're connecting from. If the site fails the Reverse Name Lookup test, you won't be able to make a secure connection. If you really want to connect, try disabling RNL at WinProxy/File/General.

We've also found that some ad-blocking software will interfere with secure connections.

WinProxy is warning me about a security problem

WinProxy will pop up a warning about a possible security problem if too many of your connections are made to its internal address. There are two common causes:

1. Your Internet connection is incorrectly configured as an internal connection instead of as an external con nection. This is a bad thing. It means that anybody on the Internet is treated as being behind your firewall- which ain't no firewall at all! Fix it. Your Internet connection must be configured as an external connection (WinProxy/File/Settings/General/Internal IP).
2. Your Internet connection comes into your hub instead of to the WinProxy machine. This happens most often with cable and DSL modems and must be changed. Your Internet connection must come in only to the WinProxy computer. Add a second network card to the WinProxy machine if you don't already have one. Some cable and DSL modems will connect to either a hub or a card (they reconfigure the network plug con nections automatically). Most require that you change the cable type when changing what you're plugging into. If, like most people, you've got a standard CAT-5 cable connecting the modem to the hub, then go get a Cross-over CAT-5 cable to connect it to a network card. Cross-over cables are commonly available in the network section of computer stores.

How do I uninstall WinProxy 3.0?

First off, don't remove any files or folders before you do the uninstall. Missing files may make it impossible for the uninstall program to run correctly. WinProxy 3.0 has an Uninstall program; you'll find it in the WinProxy 3.0 directory. In the Start menu system, the icon looks like the WinProxy icon with a red circle and slash over it.

1. If you're dropping back to 2.1 from 3.0, be sure to write down all your IP settings, names, and registration information (including the serial number) before running the uninstaller.
2. Make sure that WinProxy is not running, not even in the taskbar or as a hidden service in NT.
3. Run the uninstall program.

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