This guide walks you through every major platform: Windows, macOS, popular browsers, and mobile devices. You'll also learn how to check your proxy IP address online and what to do when you get your proxy credentials from a provider like Froxy.
A proxy server address is the network identifier — IP address or domain name — of a server that acts as an intermediary between your device and the websites you visit. When you connect through a proxy, all your outgoing traffic passes through this server first. The destination website sees the proxy IP address, not your real one.
Two components define every proxy connection:
Together, the proxy address and port form a complete connection string: 192.168.1.100:8080. The host can be an IPv4 address (four dot-separated numbers), an IPv6 address (a longer hexadecimal format), or a fully qualified domain name (FQDN). So that you know what a proxy server address is.
These terms are often used interchangeably, but there is a subtle distinction. A proxy server address can refer to a domain name (like proxy.example.com), whereas a proxy IP address refers to a numeric IP address. In practice, both lead to the same server.
The entry IP (host) is the proxy server address you enter in your device's settings.
Exit IP is the address that target websites actually see. It belongs to the proxy server's output node in the target geography, for example, a residential IP in New York.
This distinction matters when you check your proxy IP address with online tools: the result will show the Exit IP, not the Entry IP you configured. Both are expected and correct.
Windows offers three independent ways to view proxy settings, each suited to different needs: Settings, Control Panel, or Command Line.
This path is useful in corporate environments where settings are managed via Group Policy:
The commonly suggested ipconfig /all command does not show proxy settings. It only outputs network adapter information, DHCP, and DNS.
Use the following commands instead:
Check WinHTTP system proxy (used by Windows services and updates):
netsh winhttp show proxy
Check the user-level proxy from the Windows Registry:
reg query "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings" /v ProxyServer
If a proxy is manually configured, the second command returns the address in the format IP:Port — for example, 192.0.2.1:8080.
There are two methods.
The networksetup utility lets you query proxy settings for any network interface directly from the command line:
Replace "Wi-Fi" with "Ethernet" if you use a wired connection. A successful output looks like:
Enabled: Yes, Server: proxy.example.com, Port: 9000.
How browsers handle proxy settings varies significantly. Understanding this upfront will save you time.
Why did we start with Firefox? It is the only major browser with a fully independent proxy stack:
A proxy configured in Firefox only affects Firefox traffic. It does not change the system-wide proxy settings used by other applications.
Chrome does not have its own proxy configuration. Navigate to Settings, System, and Open your computer's proxy settings. This immediately opens the proxy section of your operating system settings (Windows or macOS).
The proxy IP address you configure there applies globally to the OS and all apps that use system proxy, including Chrome.
Like Chrome, Edge delegates proxy management to the OS. Go to Settings, then System and performance, and Open your computer's proxy settings.
Safari also relies on macOS system settings. Go to Safari, Settings, Advanced, Proxies, and Change Settings…. This opens the macOS Network and Proxies tab described in the macOS section above.
On mobile devices, proxy settings are tied to individual Wi-Fi networks rather than applied globally to all connections.
The exact path varies by manufacturer skin (Samsung One UI, Xiaomi MIUI, stock Android), but the logic is the same:
iOS has a standardized path across all iPhone and iPad models:
Online IP-checking tools let you verify that your proxy is working correctly by comparing the IP address seen by external services before and after enabling the proxy.
Common tools include whatismyip.com and ipinfo.io. Or you can check it on our specialized Froxy IP checker.
So, firstly, visit the tool without a proxy active and note your real IP. After enabling proxy, visit the site again. If the proxy is configured correctly, it will now display the Exit IP — the address of the proxy server's output node at the target location, not your real IP.
Perfect proxies for accessing valuable data from around the world.
If you're using a commercial proxy service, you don't need to dig through operating system menus — all connection details are provided in your account dashboard. Here's how it works with Froxy:
After configuring your proxy server address and port, use this quick verification checklist:
Based on Froxy's experience and the tons of issues people report in communities.
The most likely cause is missing authentication: if only the IP and port are entered, but no username/password is provided (or your real IP has not been whitelisted in the provider's dashboard), the proxy will reject all traffic.
Double-check the authentication method your provider requires. If credentials are correct but the connection still fails, run a basic network diagnostic: open Command Prompt and ping your default gateway (typically 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.1.254). If the gateway responds but the internet is still down, the problem is isolated to the proxy layer, not the physical connection.
If your home router subnet (for example, 192.168.1.0/24) overlaps with the corporate VPN's internal address space, packets cannot be routed correctly through the tunnel. The symptom is that everything worked fine until you enabled both at the same time.
The fix is to change the router's LAN subnet to a range that does not conflict with the VPN — for example, 10.0.0.0/24.
On Windows, proxy settings are locked when IT administrators enforce them via Group Policy Objects (GPO). Regular users can see the proxy server address but cannot modify or disable it without administrator rights. On macOS, the same symptom is almost always caused by Screen Time or parental controls.
Check Settings → General → VPN & Device Management. If a management profile is installed, network parameters will be read-only until the profile is removed or the account owner lifts restrictions.
If you find an unfamiliar proxy server IP address already set on your device — especially if you never configured it — treat this as a likely malware infection.
Some malicious programs silently inject a foreign proxy address into Windows registry settings to intercept and redirect your traffic. To verify, run the registry check command described in the Windows section above.
There's a hack from one Reddit thread! If you find a suspicious address, remove it by disabling the proxy in LAN Settings, then run AdwCleaner to clear any malicious scheduled tasks and Malwarebytes to remove the underlying agent. Do not skip both tools: AdwCleaner removes browser hijacker remnants that Malwarebytes may miss, and vice versa.
This is expected behavior. These browsers delegate proxy management to the operating system.
Configure the proxy in Windows or macOS settings, and the change will automatically apply to these browsers as well.
When a PAC (Proxy Auto-Configuration) file is in use, no static IP address is displayed in the settings UI — only a script URL. The actual proxy server IP is resolved dynamically by the script.
To find the proxy server address in this case, open the PAC file URL directly in a browser and read its contents, or ask your network administrator.
A correctly configured proxy does not guarantee full anonymity. Two common leak channels can expose your real IP even when everything appears to be working.
First, WebRTC. When a website requests access to your camera or microphone, or initiates a peer-to-peer connection, the browser queries all physical network interfaces directly — bypassing the SOCKS proxy — and exposes your real local and external IP to the site.
To block this, disable WebRTC in your browser settings or use an antidetect browser.
Second, DNS leaks. If your device sends DNS resolution requests to your ISP's local DNS server rather than routing them through the proxy tunnel, the ISP and the target site can still identify your real geolocation.
The fix is to force remote DNS resolution on the proxy side. This is a specific setting in SOCKS5 configuration called Remote DNS.
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Knowing how to find your proxy server address depends on which platform you're on and how the proxy was originally configured. On Windows, the fastest path is Settings → Network & Internet → Proxy. On macOS, it's System Settings → Network → Details → Proxies. Mobile devices tie proxy settings to individual Wi-Fi networks, while browsers either delegate to the OS (Chrome, Edge, Safari) or offer their own independent panel (Firefox).
If you're using a commercial proxy provider, all of this becomes much simpler: your proxy IP address, port, and credentials are generated and displayed in your dashboard. With Froxy, you can configure residential, datacenter, or mobile proxies in seconds, export connection lists in bulk, and verify your Exit IP with any online checker — without navigating through a single OS settings menu.