The essential points from this guide -- each one is explained in detail below.
Windows keeps proxy settings under Settings > Network & Internet > Proxy, with `netsh winhttp show proxy` as the command-line check.
macOS stores proxy settings under System Settings > Network > Wi-Fi > Details > Proxies, split out by protocol.
Chrome typically inherits your OS-level proxy, but Firefox keeps its own independent proxy configuration screen.
If no device shows a proxy, check your router's admin panel or ask your network administrator, since network-level proxies apply automatically to every connected device.
Windows stores your proxy settings in one place, and you can view them without installing any extra software. Open Settings, then go to Network & Internet, then Proxy. This screen shows whether a proxy is set up automatically or manually, and if manual entry is used, it lists the address and port your device sends traffic through.
Two toggles matter most on this screen. "Automatically detect settings" asks Windows to look for a PAC file broadcast on the local network, and "Use setup script" points to a specific PAC file URL that you or your IT team supplied. If either toggle is on, the address field below can stay blank even though a proxy is technically active, because the real address lives inside the script rather than in a static field.
If you want to know your proxy server address without opening the Settings app, use Command Prompt instead. Type netsh winhttp show proxy to see the current WinHTTP proxy configuration, which is what many command-line tools and background services rely on instead of the graphical Proxy screen. This command is often the fastest way to answer how do i know my proxy server address when you are troubleshooting a script or scheduled task rather than a browser.
Keep in mind that the WinHTTP proxy and the per-user Settings app proxy can differ, since Windows maintains them as two separate configurations. A mismatch between the two is a common cause of one app working through the proxy while another bypasses it entirely.
Older scripts and legacy tools sometimes read from a third location, the Internet Options proxy tab reached through Control Panel. This tab shares data with the modern Settings app on current versions of Windows, but on older builds it can lag behind, so if a newly installed program still ignores your proxy, checking this older panel is worth the extra minute.
macOS keeps proxy settings inside System Settings, under Network. Click your active connection, usually Wi-Fi, then click Details, then select the Proxies tab. This is the most direct way to find your proxy server address on a Mac, and it works the same way whether you connect over Wi-Fi or Ethernet.
The Proxies tab lists every proxy type separately: Web Proxy (HTTP), Secure Web Proxy (HTTPS), FTP Proxy, and SOCKS Proxy. Each one can point to a different address and port, so check the box next to the protocol you actually use before reading the address field beside it. If none of the boxes are checked, your Mac is not routing traffic through a manual proxy at the system level, and any proxy behavior you are seeing is coming from an app or browser instead.
If you manage multiple network locations, remember that macOS stores proxy settings per connection, not globally. Switching from a home Wi-Fi network to an office network can show a completely different address, because each network profile keeps its own configuration saved separately.
There is also an "Auto Proxy Discovery" option on the same screen, which behaves like Windows' automatic detection. When it is enabled, macOS looks for a PAC file on the network rather than using a static address, so how to find my proxy address becomes a question about locating that script instead of reading a fixed field.
If your Mac is enrolled in a company or school mobile device management (MDM) profile, the Proxies tab may show a proxy you never entered yourself and may not let you edit or remove it. That is expected behavior, not a bug, since MDM-pushed network profiles are designed to override anything a user sets manually.
Chrome and Firefox do not always share the same proxy settings as your operating system, so checking your OS alone will not always answer what is my proxy server for browsing specifically. Chrome uses your system's proxy settings by default on Windows and Mac, but you can view the exact values it is using by opening chrome://settings, searching for "proxy," and clicking "Open your computer's proxy settings." This opens the same OS-level panel described above rather than a separate Chrome-only screen.
Firefox works differently. It maintains its own independent proxy configuration instead of always deferring to the system. Open Firefox Settings, scroll to Network Settings, and click the Settings button beside it. There you will see options for no proxy, auto-detect, use system settings, or manual proxy configuration, along with the exact address and port fields if manual entry is selected.
Because Firefox can override the system proxy while Chrome typically inherits it, the two browsers can show what is my proxy host as two different answers on the very same machine. Always confirm inside the specific browser you are troubleshooting rather than assuming both browsers match, especially if only one app seems to be affected by a proxy issue.
Mobile browsers add another layer. On iOS and Android, Chrome and Safari both use the device-level Wi-Fi proxy setting rather than keeping a separate in-app screen, so checking your phone's Wi-Fi network details answers the question for every app at once, unlike the desktop split between Chrome and Firefox.
Sometimes the proxy address you need is not stored on your device at all, it is set at the router or network level instead. Business networks, schools, and some home routers apply a proxy centrally, so every connected device inherits it automatically. This is a common reason a proxy shows up in your browser or OS settings even though nobody configured it locally on that machine.
To check, log in to your router's admin panel, usually through a browser address like 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.0.1, and look for a section labeled "Proxy," "WAN Proxy," or sometimes buried under advanced network settings. Not every consumer router supports this feature, so its absence in the admin panel does not mean no proxy exists anywhere else on the network.
If you are on a managed office or school network, the fastest way to answer how do you find the proxy server address is to ask your network administrator directly. Centrally managed proxies are often deployed through group policy or mobile device management profiles, and the address may not be visible in your local settings at all, since the enforcement happens upstream at the network gateway rather than on your own device.
Some routers label this feature differently depending on firmware, using terms like "HTTP Proxy," "Content Filtering Proxy," or "Parental Control Proxy" instead of a plain "Proxy" heading. If you cannot find a proxy section under any label, the router most likely is not applying one, and the proxy behavior you are seeing comes from a device or app instead.
Command-line tools give you a way to confirm the proxy address that is actually being used, rather than just what a settings screen claims. On Windows, run ipconfig /all to review your network adapter details, though for the proxy specifically, netsh winhttp show proxy remains the more direct command covered earlier in this guide.
On Mac and Linux, check environment variables first, since many command-line programs read proxy settings from http_proxy and https_proxy rather than the OS-level dialogue. Run echo $http_proxy and echo $https_proxy in Terminal to see what values, if any, are set for your current shell session. An empty result does not always mean no proxy is active, since some apps set proxy variables only for their own session rather than exporting them globally.
For the most reliable confirmation, use curl -v against any URL and inspect the connection details in the verbose output. If a proxy is intercepting the request, you will typically see a CONNECT line before the actual request, showing the address and port your traffic is routing through. This method works regardless of what a graphical settings panel displays, because it reveals the real network path your request actually took, which is how to get proxy address information you can trust when settings screens disagree with each other.
If you work with Python or Node scripts, print the proxy variables your process actually sees before making a request, since a script can inherit a different environment than your interactive shell. A one-line check at the top of a script, printing http_proxy and https_proxy, catches configuration mismatches before they cause confusing connection errors later in a run.
netsh winhttp show proxy on Windows or check environment variables on Mac, and ask your IT team if the address stays hidden.curl -v against any URL and read the verbose output. If a proxy intercepts the request, you will see a CONNECT line listing the address and port, confirming the real path your traffic takes without opening a single settings screen.Ready to put this into practice? Browse Residential Proxies
KnoxProxy Research Team · Technical Content
Network engineers and proxy infrastructure specialists with 10+ years in anti-bot systems, web scraping, and IP routing.
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