Outlook & WPAD Proxy Failover

Question

Hi,

In our company, we use wpad autoconfig to connect computers to Internet.

We use pac file capabilities to failover to another proxy server when the first one is down by using :

...

{

return "PROXY myproxy01.domain.local:8080; PROXY myproxy02.domain.local:8080";

}

...

No problem with our browsers, they switch to proxy02 when proxy01 is not available almost immediately.

But Outlook (2016-2019) keeps disconnected : it reconnects only when proxy01 is up again or if we hard set proxy02 in the OS.

Has anyone else had to deal with this problem?

Answer 1

Dear WebGTA,

Good morning! Thank you for publishing in Microsoft Community. We are happy to help you.

Regarding your query on "Outlook & WPAD Proxy Failover". Please understand that this query is outside of our support boundaries, we are support for Microsoft 365 and Exchange Online.

After our initial research on our side, we did not find much information that could fix your issue, for you to be assisted properly, please reach out to on the Microsoft Q&A forum with a WPAD Proxy tag; I am sure that our experts from that team can address your query effectively and accurately.

however, in my understanding, the issue that you are experiencing with Outlook not switching to the second proxy server when the first one is down could be due to the fact that Outlook does not support automatic proxy failover.

One workaround for this issue is to manually configure Outlook to use the second proxy server when the first one is down. You can do this by going to File > Account Settings > Change > More Settings > Connection tab, and then selecting "Connect to Microsoft Exchange using HTTP" and clicking on the "Exchange Proxy Settings" button. From there, you can manually enter the second proxy server's information.

Alternatively, you can try using a third-party tool that supports automatic proxy failover for Outlook. However, please note that Microsoft does not endorse or support any third-party tools, so use them at your own risk, by posting this in Q&A am sure, experienced users who have encountered this problem may be able to provide you with valuable information.

Thank you for your cooperation and understanding. Please do not hesitate to post your queries in Microsoft Community and we will always do our best to assist you!

Sincerely,

De Paul | Microsoft Community Moderator

Answer 2

Dear WebGTA,

Thank you for posting to Microsoft Community. We are happy to assist you.

We are looking into your situation, we will update the thread shortly.

Appreciate your patience and understanding and thank you for your time and cooperation.

Sincerely,

Microsoft Community Moderator