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Editorial Team
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Asked: 2026-05-31T03:41:17+00:00

My OS is windows7 64 bits. I’m in a corporate environment. In order to

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My OS is windows7 64 bits.
I’m in a corporate environment. In order to have internet connectivity I have IE configured to use a automatic configuration proxy script.
Additionally I connect into an external company dial-up VPN (via internet). When connecting into the VPN I see that my hosts file are modified and the route print is changed too. The VPN dial-up connection uses another proxy automatic configuration script (under dial-up and VPN settings).
I’m able to see the contents of the two automatic configuration scripts as well as the route print info.

I have a .Net1.1 winforms app that uses WebClient to download an xml file from a web server.

When connected into the VPN:
The winforms app is not able to download the file (“server cannot be reached” error).
If I browse to the same URL within IE I’m able to download the file.
Moreover when I start Fiddler to inspect the http sessions, the winforms app is able to download the xml file.
Running netsh->proxy, system32 and SysWow64 versions show Direct access.

I suspect the problem is somehow related to proxy configurations but I don’t know where to look first.

Any help on putting things in order would be really apreciated…

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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    Just for reference,

    It turns out that .net framework 1.1 WebClient doesn’t understand automatic proxy configuration within its defaults settings:

      <system.net>
    <defaultProxy>
      <!-- 
                The following entry enables reading of the per user (LAN) Internet settings.
                Adding additional proxy settings, without first setting to "false",
                will individually override. Note that "Automatic configuration" and 
                "automatic configuration scripts" cannot be read.

                <proxy> settings:
                    usesystemdefault="[true|false]" - Read settings from Internet Options (see above)
                    proxyaddress="[string]" - A Uri string of the proxy server to use.
                    bypassonlocal="[true|false]" - Enables bypassing of the proxy for local resources.
             -->
      <proxy usesystemdefault="true" />
    </defaultProxy>
  </system.net>

    One posible workaround is to manually add the proxyadress in the config file

      <system.net>
    <defaultProxy>
      <proxy usesystemdefault="false" proxyaddress="http://myproxy:myport"  />
    </defaultProxy>
  </system.net>
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