Stop WPAD in Windows 11.

Question

Hello,

I am asking for help on how to stop my laptop from sending wpad dns requests. I have a pihole on my network, and the log is littered with wpad requests.

I tried the first couple of techniques in this tutorial but no luck. How to disable Web Proxy Auto-Discovery (WPAD) in Windows 11/10 (thewindowsclub.com)

I disabled netbios and lmhosts in the network adapter. Edited the hosts file per the instructions. Still my dns logs filled with wpad requests. I couldn't figure out how to edit the registry and don't want to totally mess up my laptop.

Stopping the requests is beyond my technical ability. Can someone provide simple guidance or point me to a simple tutorial on how to do this? Thanks.

Answer 1

Hey David McC86, how is your question?

Please feel free to let me know if there is an update to the problem or if the method I provided doesn't resolve it. I will continue to help you here.

Answer 2

Hello David McC86，

Welcome to Microsoft Community.

In fact, preventing WPAD from sending requests can be solved by changing the registry. I recommend that you change the network adapter Settings back to the default Settings and then follow these steps to modify the registry to prevent WPAD:

1. Please click the search type Regedit on the taskbar and open the registry editor.
2. In the address bar go to

     Computer\[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\Wpad
   

3. In the window on the right of Wpad, right-click and create a dword32 key named WpadOverride and value is 1.
4. Then click OK to save and exit, restart the computer and see if there are no more WPAD requests in the network log.

Disclaimer: Generally, modifying registry subkeys or work group is intended for advanced users, administrators, and IT Professionals. It can help fix some problems, however, serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Therefore, make sure that you follow these steps carefully. For further protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up and restore the registry, click here to view the article.

Your patience and cooperation are highly appreciated. Please feel free to let me know if you have any doubts or updates.

Best Regards,

Manson - MSFT | Microsoft Community Support Specialist