Windows 8 RT proxy support

[martindyer]

Does anyone know if the Surface RT supports authenticated proxies? Students will start to bring these to school soon and I would like to be able to let them know if we can configure proxy settings as we can in ie/firefox/safari to point to our TMG server. Edited November 8, 2012 by martindyer

[FN-GM]

Not sure on this device specifically but if i was you i would starting going down the route of getting you proxying done transparently. The amount of devices out there and new stuff coming that doesn't support proxies is large. Its mainly because these are consumer devices and people dont usually have a proxy server at home.

[ZeroHour]

I wonder if @jamesfed could give it a try?

[arron]

Windows 8 apps dont work with NTLM authentication properly (here they dont work at all when we use NTLM) but i dont know about normal auth proxies. So you may want to look at different auth method if your using that.

[jamesfed]

Does anyone know if the Surface RT supports authenticated proxies? Students will start to bring these to school soon and I would like to be able to let them know if we can configure proxy settings as we can in ie/firefox/safari to point to our TMG server.

 

Modern IE 10 (the main one from the start screen) works with Proxys just the same as Windows 7 and Windows 8 - we use TMG here and it blocks things just as well although I haven't looked much into authentication methods yet (will do though).

 

Will do some testing with Metro style applications however the best way you can test would just be to fire up a Win 8 VM (use a trial edition if you don't have VL) and that will work just the same as a Windows RT tablet.

 

With our WPAD settings proxy detection is automatic and seamless.

[martindyer]

Thanks for all the replies. Using a transparent proxy may work for most but we are a boarding school and we want to allow different groups of students access to different groups of websites on a timed basis so we use AD group membership a lot to achieve this. Hopefully @jamesfed will have some success. It would nice to be ahead of the game when a student brings one in or we get a call from a parent asking if we support them.

[glennda]

Thanks for all the replies. Using a transparent proxy may work for most but we are a boarding school and we want to allow different groups of students access to different groups of websites on a timed basis so we use AD group membership a lot to achieve this. Hopefully @jamesfed will have some success. It would nice to be ahead of the game when a student brings one in or we get a call from a parent asking if we support them.

 

 

What filter do you use? With transparent proxy on a Smoothwall for example you can redirect the initial web-request to a login page. Login using AD creds leave that window open and you session is then filtered according to the rules as normal.

[martindyer]

We use TMG onsite and then all traffic goes through the SWGfL filter which applies the filtering to all traffic allowed through TMG. I got a quote from SmoothWall yesterday, £8000! So I don't think that is on the cards at the moment...

[alfatec]

We also use transparent proxy through Smoothwall. We setup a separate Wireless network for the students on a different VLAN and IP range from the school network. They log into

their wireless network then access the internet by putting their normal school username and password from active directory into a SSL login page. Once on the internet they can

then access our Remote Desktop services system which gives them all the software and network drives. Works very well.

With regards to the proxy settings on Windows 8, we have found that we had to set the proxy by command prompt, using NETSH WINHTTP SET PROXY, once this had been

done all the apps working in Metro (or whatever they are calling it now).

Edited November 9, 2012 by alfatec

[sted]

We also use transparent proxy through Smoothwall. We setup a separate Wireless network for the students on a different VLAN and IP range from the school network. They log into

their wireless network then access the internet by putting their normal school username and password from active directory into a SSL login page. Once on the internet they can

then access our Remote Desktop services system which gives them all the software and network drives. Works very well.

With regards to the proxy settings on Windows 8, we have found that we had to set the proxy by command prompt, using NETSH WINHTTP SET PROXY, once this had been

done all the apps working in Metro (or whatever they are calling it now).

 

i cant even get proxy to deploy in desktop mode on std win 8 ent wpad.dat fails group policy fail just trying loopback mode then gpp reg entries but this is dumb

[arron]

Make sure to allow ncsi.glbdns.microsoft.com through without needing auth else windows 8 thinks the internet is not there.. which can cause the apps to complain/not work.

[sted]

Make sure to allow ncsi.glbdns.microsoft.com through without needing auth else windows 8 thinks the internet is not there.. which can cause the apps to complain/not work.

 

i have zero control over the proxy i just have to use it lea suplier its poor and expensive but schools wont move

 

and typically it now works both metro and desktop presumably via wpad as even though settings for it are in they arnt showing and rsop still complains about ie branding which im not trying to do lol

[glennda]

We use TMG onsite and then all traffic goes through the SWGfL filter which applies the filtering to all traffic allowed through TMG. I got a quote from SmoothWall yesterday, £8000! So I don't think that is on the cards at the moment...

 

I Believe this is possible to do with TMG but you will need to ask somebody else how.

 

When you look into the full costings from everything you get for SWGFL you may be plesently surprised. On my old WSGFL school it was only £500 per year more to move away from WSGFL go for a 100mb leased line (versus 20mb from wsgfl) and then get a smoothwall for 3 years. This included firewall and mail filtering via the Smoothwall device. the freedom is gave was huge.

[ZeroHour]

We use TMG onsite and then all traffic goes through the SWGfL filter which applies the filtering to all traffic allowed through TMG. I got a quote from SmoothWall yesterday, £8000! So I don't think that is on the cards at the moment...

 

You could install the TMG Firewall client (look for a hidden share on TMG), I suspect that would get around the NTLM problem hopefully. It wont be tested for W8 though sadly and wouldnt help RT.

[Synkrox]

Proxy support is shocking. Not wifi linked, and the desktop IE settings don't apply to metro apps.

 

However you can do it.

 

After setting the proxy up in IE desktop as normal.....

 

I wrote 2 batch files and saved them to the desktop

 

ProxyOn.bat

reg add "[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings]" /v ProxyEnable /t REG_DWORD /d "1" /f

netsh winhttp import proxy source=ie

 

ProxyOff.bat

reg add "[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings]" /v ProxyEnable /t REG_DWORD /d "0" /f

netsh winhttp reset proxy

 

 

Then right click and "run as administrator" each time you need to turn it on/off.

Its dirty, and MS should really have sorted this properly by attaching proxy settings per-wifi network by now!

 

Hope this helps

Chris

[Michael]

Does Win 8 support proxy.pac files, anyone tried?

[jamesfed]

Does Win 8 support proxy.pac files, anyone tried?

 

Yep works fine with PAC and WPAD just fine

[Michael]

Hmm interesting, but why not GPO I wonder. At least a proxy.pac is a simple enough work around.

[CHR1S]

Its dirty, and MS should really have sorted this properly by attaching proxy settings per-wifi network by now!

 

This! If apple can do it, why cant MS?

[CyberNerd]

Hmm interesting, but why not GPO I wonder. At least a proxy.pac is a simple enough work around.

 

I wound't say a workaround - rather the standard way of doing things since about 1995!