IE - Automatically Detect Settings - SOLVED

Is there a way to check whether this setting is checked or not on a remote computer through a script?

I've been asked to write a script to check this across our network since it may cause some issues when we start implementing our Proxy Settings.
We have a mixture of W2K and XPSP2 machines on our network, and roughly about 2000+ machines to check this on.

Of course once these settings are recorded, I'll probably have to look into a way of changing these settings, but I haven't had any luck on finding out where this setting is located when accessing a remote computer.
If it's stored in the registry, then I haven't had any luck locating it.
I've been looking into some WMI scripts, but have only been able to locate a script for detecting the Proxy Settings. (Which doesn't seem to show whether the "Automatically Detect Settings" is set or not)

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,

Const HKEY_CURRENT_USER = &H80000001

strComputer = "."
Set objRegistry = GetObject("winmgmts:\\" & strComputer & "\root\default:StdRegProv")

strKeyPath = "SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings"

strValueName = "ProxyEnable"
dwValue = 1
objRegistry.SetDWORDValue HKEY_CURRENT_USER, strKeyPath, strValueName, dwValue

strValueName = "ProxyServer"
strValue = "svcproxy:80"
objRegistry.SetStringValue HKEY_CURRENT_USER, strKeyPath, strValueName, strValue

strValueName = "ProxyOverride"
strValue = "<local>"
objRegistry.SetStringValue HKEY_CURRENT_USER, strKeyPath, strValueName, strValue

Thanks for the reply, but I'm not looking at actually setting the Proxy up by script, that will be handled through GPO.
 
I'm needing a script that can check for the "Automatically Detect Settings" and whether it is enabled or not.
This may cause issues when we add our Proxy settings.
 
I know that you can physically check this through Internet Options, but I'm needing to check this on remote computers.

If strValueName = "ProxyEnable"
dwValue = 1
then the box is checked
if strValueName = "ProxyEnable"
dwValue = 0
Then the box is not checked.

Yes, that works fine for checking the Proxy setting, but that is not what I'm trying to check.
 
I'm wanting to check "Automatically detect settings"  not the "Use a proxy server for your LAN"

It is located in this key under the "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\Connections" value.  The data string is a collection of all the current settings.  I isolated the section for that check box to the 5th hex set.  Everytime you turn it on or off it increments up by one.  setting it to an even number sets it to checked, odd numbers set it to unchecked.  I would set everthing the way you want it and just rewrite the entire REG_BINARY the way it exports when configured correctly.

Checked:
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\Connections]
"DefaultConnectionSettings"=hex:3c,00,00,00,14,00,00,00,09,00,00,00,0e,00,00,\
00,31,32,37,2e,30,2e,30,2e,31,3a,38,30,38,30,09,00,00,00,6c,6f,63,61,6c,68,\
6f,73,74,0b,00,00,00,31,31,31,2e,31,31,2e,31,31,31,31,01,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
00,30,fd,35,de,8d,27,c6,01,03,00,00,00,c0,a8,01,73,c0,a8,b8,01,c0,a8,85,01,\
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00

Unchecked
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\Connections]
"DefaultConnectionSettings"=hex:3c,00,00,00,15,00,00,00,01,00,00,00,0e,00,00,\
00,31,32,37,2e,30,2e,30,2e,31,3a,38,30,38,30,09,00,00,00,6c,6f,63,61,6c,68,\
6f,73,74,0b,00,00,00,31,31,31,2e,31,31,2e,31,31,31,31,01,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
00,30,fd,35,de,8d,27,c6,01,03,00,00,00,c0,a8,01,73,c0,a8,b8,01,c0,a8,85,01,\
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00


Cybex

Common sense is not so common.

Thanks for that bit of information Cybex!
I came across that registry key last night, but I did not have a chance to go in and start messing with it.
I'll start looking into this a little more when I get a chance today.
 
One other question,
I havne't really messed around with GPO, but if my group will be setting up our "future" proxy with GPO; wouldn't they also be able to make this change as well?
 
 
Anyways, thanks for the info

I believe so.

Cybex

Common sense is not so common.

Just an update on the progress of this "little" project I've been working on.
 
It looks like we will not be using GPO to make these changes across our network.
(GPO Administrator will not allow this due to more overhead he will have to deal with to set all of this up for our area)
 
The other issue is that we will not be making the changes through the HKEY_CURRENT_USER key.
(Handed down from management)
 
I've found a way to fix all of these settings on a W2K machine, but the same settings do not take care of them on an XP Machine.
Here are the registry keys that will be created to make the changes:
 

 HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings
    [REG_DWORD]  ProxySettingsPerUser=0
  
 HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings
    [REG_DWORD]  ProxyHttp1.1=0
    [REG_DWORD]  MigrateProxy=1
    [REG_DWORD]  ProxyEnable=0
    [REG_SZ]  ProxyServer=<our proxy settings>
    [REG_SZ]  ProxyOverride=<our proxy override settings>
 

 
If these keys are created on an XP Machine, then all of the settings are taken care of except for the "Automatically detect settings", this is still checked.
(Yes, a lot of those entries are created so that they will be in place once we enable the proxy)
Anyone have any other ideas as to how to fix this on an XP Machine? (SP2)
 

Last registry entry that took care of my remaining issue:
 
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings
  [REG_DWORD] Security_HKLM_only=1
 
 
1 = Workstation settings
0 = User settings
 
http://www.winguides.com/registry/display.php/1133/
 

Cybex,
 
My experience show that there is sometings wrong in your conclusion.
5th hex set is incremented each time you go te LAN settings. It's a counter.
Look at the 9th hex. Bit 3 of the 9th hex contains the state of the check box. In your exemple it changes from 9 to 1.
 
 
 

ORIGINAL: Cybex

It is located in this key under the "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\Connections" value.  The data string is a collection of all the current settings.  I isolated the section for that check box to the 5th hex set.  Everytime you turn it on or off it increments up by one.  setting it to an even number sets it to checked, odd numbers set it to unchecked.  I would set everthing the way you want it and just rewrite the entire REG_BINARY the way it exports when configured correctly.

Checked:
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\Connections]
"DefaultConnectionSettings"=hex:3c,00,00,00,14,00,00,00,09,00,00,00,0e,00,00,\
00,31,32,37,2e,30,2e,30,2e,31,3a,38,30,38,30,09,00,00,00,6c,6f,63,61,6c,68,\
6f,73,74,0b,00,00,00,31,31,31,2e,31,31,2e,31,31,31,31,01,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
00,30,fd,35,de,8d,27,c6,01,03,00,00,00,c0,a8,01,73,c0,a8,b8,01,c0,a8,85,01,\
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00

Unchecked
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\Connections]
"DefaultConnectionSettings"=hex:3c,00,00,00,15,00,00,00,01,00,00,00,0e,00,00,\
00,31,32,37,2e,30,2e,30,2e,31,3a,38,30,38,30,09,00,00,00,6c,6f,63,61,6c,68,\
6f,73,74,0b,00,00,00,31,31,31,2e,31,31,2e,31,31,31,31,01,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
00,30,fd,35,de,8d,27,c6,01,03,00,00,00,c0,a8,01,73,c0,a8,b8,01,c0,a8,85,01,\
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00


Cybex

Assuming you have XP sp2 installed.
 
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Control Panel\Autoconfig

To disable the Automatically Detect Settings check box, set the value of this DWORD (Autoconfig) to 1.
 
Create the keys for IE and control panel if they dont exist.
 
This disables both the "auto check box" and the "auto script" That area becomes greyed out.
 
Regards,
 
Gary

Excellent find Gary, but this only disables the ability to set the feature.

NOTE: Each REG ADD command is a single line.

This command can be used to clear all connection settings for the currently logged-in user, but will be overwritten by group policy:

reg add "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\Connections" /v DefaultConnectionSettings /t REG_BINARY /d 460000000200000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 /f

The following can be used to clear all connection settings for all users and will not be overwritten by group policy (requires admin access to the system):

reg add "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\Connections" /v DefaultConnectionSettings /t REG_BINARY /d 46000000020000000100000000000000070000003c6c6f63616c3e000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 /f

reg add "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings" /v ProxySettingsPerUser /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f


In addition, a quick way to disable modification of auto-configuration settings (will require administrative privileges):

For the currently logged-in user only, use the following command:

reg add "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Control Panel\Autoconfig" /v AutoConfig /t REG_DWORD /d 1

For all users (machine-level), use the following command:

reg add "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Control Panel\Autoconfig" /v AutoConfig /t REG_DWORD /d 1

MyITGuy | Automating your life to make my life easier.

Very usefull information have been collected here! nice work!

I am interested in changing the Dial-Up IP (what do you call it?) which is ADSL USB MODEM DIAL-UP registry value located in HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\Connections in my XPSP2.
Its in binary unfortunatly. I have been searching the net on how to mutate this value without crashing my internet explorer.But couldnt find any useful info. Probably you people might know!

All I know about the value is that , If you change the address and port in Internet Options->Connections tab->ADSL USB MODEM DIAL-UP settings (you would see the "Proxy server" group box) this registry value changes and the address:port combination starts from the 16th byte of this value.I dont know about the other hex values.

Any help would be appreciated!

So being the pedant that I am, here is a script which will do the job:

Const HKEY_CURRENT_USER = &H80000001
strComputer = "."

Set objRegistry = GetObject("winmgmts:{impersonationLevel=impersonate}!\\" & strComputer & "\root\default:StdRegProv")
 
strKeyPath = "SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\Connections"
strValueName = "DefaultConnectionSettings"
 
rtn = objRegistry.GetBinaryValue(HKEY_CURRENT_USER, strKeyPath, strValueName, binValue)

If rtn = 0 then
  If (binValue(8) and 8)=8 Then
    Msgbox "Autodetect is checked"
  Else
    Msgbox "Autodetect is unchecked"
  End If
Else
  MsgBox "Error retreving registry value for host " & strcomputer
End if

I was hunting for a solution to the automatically configure IE settings dilemma and came across this forum. It inspired me to write a nice subroutine to both set and query this setting...

Some users found a binary registry key that slightly changed when the autodect setting is changed in IE, and proposed a solution of recording the entire contents of that registry in an array, and then writing it back using a script to multiple PCs. However, it's not a good idea to do that because you really need an understanding of every setting you are changing before letting that loose on your production PCs. The last entry gives the best clue how to do it safely by identifying the specific byte within HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\Connections\DefaultConnectionSettings, and then went further to use the AND boolean operation to read the single binary bit .

We can not only read that binary bit, but we can turn it on and off, and then write it back without affecting any of the other settings, whatever they were ! That is the safest way to make changes to these kind of registry settings.... So finally, here's a subroutine + example use that provies Turn on, Turn off and a show status facility for IE Automatically Detect settings :

'Example use of IEautomaticallydetect
 IEautomaticallydetect  "off"
 IEautomaticallydetect  "show"
 IEautomaticallydetect  "on"
 IEautomaticallydetect  "show"
 wscript.quit
 
 SUB IEautomaticallydetect (status)
 
 'howeasyisthat.com
 'The parameter shold be set to 'off', 'on' or 'show'.
 'This reads and writes to  HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\Connections\DefaultConnectionSettings in order to
 'set or read the Internet Explorer Automatically Detect facility. When a proxy is set, this should normally be off. When no proxy settings are set,
 'it's usually best to have this setting turned on.[/size]
 
 DIM sKey,sValue,binaryVal
 Dim oReg
 Set oReg=GetObject( "winmgmts:{impersonationLevel=impersonate}!\\.\root\default:StdRegProv")    'For registry operations througout
 
 Const HKCU=&H80000001
 
 sKey = "Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\Connections"
 sValue = "DefaultConnectionSettings"
 
 oReg.GetBinaryValue HKCU, sKey, sValue, binaryVal
 
 select case lcase(status)
   case "on"    binaryVal(8) = binaryVal(8) OR 8        'Force Autodetect on
   case "off"    binaryVal(8) = binaryVal(8) XOR 8        'Force Autodetect off
   case "show"    wscript.echo "Automatically detect is set to " & ((binaryVal(8) and 8) = 8)
   case else    wscript.echo "Invalid parameter - IEautomaticallydetect  on, off or show"
 end select
 
 if lcase(status)="on" or lcase(status)="off" then oReg.SetBinaryValue HKCU, sKey, sValue, binaryVal
 
 end sub

Take a look at howeasyisthat.com (when it's ready!) for more scripting solutions
All the best, ... Tim So

<message edited by howeasyisthat on Tuesday, June 16, 2009 10:51 PM>

This thread never gets old! hah!
I would like to add some more information for people who might be interested in other connection settings.(Its nice to have all related infomation on one page)
Many other settings can be changed using HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\Connections\DefaultConnectionSettings.
 
I dissected the registry value and found a little about its format.
Heres how it is (in hexadecimals - in sequence):
1) Byte number zero always has a 3C or 46 - I couldnt find more information about this byte.The next three bytes are zeros.
2) Byte number 4 is a counter used by the 'Internet Options' property sheet (Internet explorer->Tools->Internet Options...).
As you manually change the internet setting (such as LAN settings in the Connections tab), this counter increments.Its not very useful byte.But it MUST have a value.I keep it zero always.The next three bytes are zeros (Bytes 5 to 7).
 
3) Byte number 8 can take different values as per your settings.
The value is :
09 when only 'Automatically detect settings' is enabled
03 when only 'Use a proxy server for your LAN' is enabled
0B when both are enabled
05 when only 'Use automatic configuration script' is enabled
0D when 'Automatically detect settings' and 'Use automatic configuration script' are enabled
07 when 'Use a proxy server for your LAN' and 'Use automatic configuration script' are enabled
0F when all the three are enabled.
01 when none of them are enabled.
The next three bytes are zeros (Bytes 9 to B).
 
4) Byte number C (12 in decimal) contains the length of the proxy server address.For example a proxy server '127.0.0.1:80' has length 12 (length includes the dots and the colon).The next three bytes are zeros (Bytes D to F).
5) Byte 10 (or 16 in decimal) contains the proxy server address - like '127.0.0.1:80' (where 80 is obviously the port number)
6) the byte immediatley after the address contians the length of additional information.The next three bytes are zeros.
For example if the 'Bypass proxy server for local addresses' is ticked, then this byte is 07,the next three bytes are zeros and then comes a string i.e. '<local>' (<local> indicates that you are bypassing the proxy server.Now since <local> has 7 characters, the length is 07!).
You will have to experiment on your own for finding more about this.
If you dont have any additional info then the length is 0 and no information is added.
7) The byte immediately after the additional info, is the length of the automatic configuration script address (If you dont have a script address then you dont need to add anything,skip this step and goto step 8).The next three bytes are zeros,then comes the address.
8) Finally, 32 zeros are appended.(I dont know why!)
 
Knowing all these helps in changing proxy server settings programatically.But the changes in proxy settings doesnt take effect immediatly.(There might be a way to refresh the settings.Couldnt find any.)
These registry value should also be changed for the proxy settings to take effect.
 HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings
    [REG_DWORD]  ProxyHttp1.1=2829
    [REG_DWORD]  MigrateProxy=3839
    [REG_DWORD]  ProxyEnable=4849
    [REG_SZ]  ProxyServer=<proxy server address> 
    [REG_SZ]  ProxyOverride=<proxy override settings>

If anyone finds any more information please let me know.

<message edited by Munawwar Firoz on Sunday, September 13, 2009 10:45 AM>

Munawwar Firoz, thanks for the posting!! I was wondering what these values mean, but a few updates to what you wrote:

first byte 3c (which is 60) or 46 (which is 70)...probably just some kinda version info, then 3 0s, so this is probably an integer...but like you, haven't found the answer

next 4 bytes are a counter. (set the first byte to FF, and then open and close the connections window, you get 00 01 00 00)

next, the auto detect settings byte, seems to be a bit mask, probably an integer as well because the next 3 bytes are 0s.

the mask consists of 4 bits, the lsb is always 1.
first bit = AutoDetect
2nd = AutoConfig
3rd = Manual settings
4th -> this is the one that's always 1...not sure

next 4 bytes are the length of the proxy server address.  This is another integer.  Though probably rarely longer than 256 characters, if someone is expecting this to be a byte, it could really mess them up.

Next X bytes, are the address itself followed immediately by:

Next 4 bytes are another integer specifying the length of the extra data (+;<local> if the bypass for local data is checked or +<local> if it's just the box checked)

Next X bytes are the extra data, (advanced tab, Exceptions). (;<local> gets appended at the end of this data if the box is checked)

Next 4 bytes are an integer for the length of the auto config script, followed by the address of the script

Lastly, there is some additional information of 32bytes (not all 0s for me) but I don't know what it is.

Thanks for the update, lando. The auto detect byte was a bit mask! How come I didnt notice?
And 4 bytes for proxy server address length? Does the length ever cross 256?

The last 32 or more bytes contains junk values in most PCs.I have seen a PC that had more than a 100 random bytes appended.As far as I have seen, removing these values does not affect any settings.(Correct me if I am wrong about this).