How To Configure A Proxy Server In Mozilla Firefox

Configure A Proxy Server In Firefox

Mozilla Firefox is a great option if you wish to set your web browser traffic through a proxy server. Mozilla Firefox, by default, uses the proxy server which is same as that of the Internet Explorer. But there is an alternative for Firefox to configure a proxy server settings. Whereas this cannot be obtained with other browsers like Chrome, Internet Explorer, and Edge.

Proxy is used when it’s provided by your workplace. It can be used to hide your IP address. Instead, you can use VPN for Mozilla Firefox to hide your IP address. You can possibly route only a few web traffic through the proxy without using it for every application on your system.

There are a few steps to follow to access proxy settings in Mozilla Firefox.

First, click on Firefox’s menu and go to “Options.
Click the “Advanced” icon at the left side of the Preferences window.

Click the “Network” tab at the top of the window, and then tap on the “Settings” button under Connection.

There are four different proxy option to select. Mozilla Firefox, by default, is set to “Use system Proxy Settings” among the four options. You can find these options under the connection settings, in the configuration of the proxy.

No proxy: Mozilla Firefox won’t use a proxy server, even if one is configured in your system-wide proxy settings.
Auto-detect proxy settings for this network: Firefox uses the Web Proxy Auto-Discovery Protocol (WPAD). This will detect a proper proxy for your network. Sometimes this feature is used only on the networks used for business and educational purpose. This, automatically, provides the necessary proxy settings to all PCs on a network.
Use system proxy settings: Firefox follows whatever proxy settings you have configured in your system settings. If you don’t have a system-wide proxy configured, Firefox won’t use a proxy.
Manual proxy configuration: Firefox allows you to manually set custom proxy settings that will only be used for Firefox itself.

If you select “Manual proxy configuration”, you will have to enter the proxy server setting in the boxes provided below this option. The proxy server provider will provide all the necessary settings. Enter the address of the proxy server in the box provided. This gives an unencrypted HTTP browsing connections. Enter the port of the proxy server in the port box beside the HTTP proxy address.

Tick for “Use this proxy server for all protocols” option. Firefox will use your proxy server for SSL encrypted HTTPS connections and File Transfer Protocol (FTP) connections. Uncheck this box if you want to enter separate proxy server address for HTTP, HTTPS, and FTP connections.

You can even configure SOCKS proxy instead of HTTP, SSL Proxy, and FTP proxy. Leave these proxy boxes empty and enter the address of the SOCKS proxy into the “SOCKS Host” and its port into the “Port” box. While hosting a SOCKS proxy on your PC, you’ll need to enter (127.0.0.1)and the port, the SOCKS proxy is on. Firefox will send your browsing activity through the proxy server running on your PC.

By default, Firefox uses SOCKS v5 for the connection. If your SOCKS proxy uses the older standard, you can select SOCKS v4. If you’re not sure with the standard, you can set the option to SOCKS v5.

You can provide a list of addresses that Firefox will bypass the proxy for. Enter these in the “No Proxy for” box. By default, the list here includes (localhost) and (127.0.0.1). Both these addresses point to your local PC itself. When you are accessing a web server running on your PC, Firefox will access it directly. Instead, it won’t access the addresses through the proxy.

Although, you can add other domain names and IP addresses to this list. Just separate each address in the list with a comma followed by a space.

If Firefox can’t access to configure a proxy server you want, they may have some problems. They may arise if the proxy server is down, your Internet connection is down, or the details entered are incorrect. This will show an error message. That says “Unable to find the proxy server” when you attempt to access a website.