Clearing WPAD cache and settings (solution)
Hi all, I want to share the solution to clear all WPAD cache and settings on a Windows 10 or 11 machine. Step 1: Regedit Computer\HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-19\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\Wpad: delete all underlying keys Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\Connections: delete the keys "DefaultConnectionSettings" and "SaveLegacySettings" Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\WinHttpAutoProxySvc: in the value "start", change the data value from "3" to "4 Step 2: Internet Options Advanced tab > Reset Internet Explorer Settings (incl Delete personal settings) > Reset Step 3: CMD as admin ipconfig /flushdns Step 4: reboot the machine twice Clearing the WPAD can be useful when getting this output from dsregcmd /status "Auto Detect PAC Status : Failed to auto detect the Proxy Auto-Configuration (PAC) script using WPAD. code: 0x80072f94" (Hybrid Azure AD Join Failure)
WPAD File Cache
We are soon to be moving away from using our WPAD/PAC file for web browsing access on our clients and select servers. We are aware that the WPAD file is cached on the machine locally so I was hoping someone could help me understand a couple of things: 1. Where is the wpad.dat file cached on client machines? 2. How long is the wpad.dat file cached for once the client machine loses access to the hosting server? We noticed when we remove the auto-detect checkbox from the browser that some system processes are still using the WPAD file whilst the browser starts routing direct. Hope you can help!
