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Can't get Firefox to work properly behind corporate proxy

drnv
drnv
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I am forced to use Firefox behind our corporate proxy and have to continually make exceptions just to get to sites, but even this doesn't always work. I don't know much about certificates, but I know certificates are issued by our organization for each user and device. I've tried exporting the personal certificate from IE and importing it into Firefox without success (couldn't export certificate completely and in correct format for Firefox) and am not sure if I'm even taking the right approach. IE is our only approved browser and I'm sure part of the reason is that proxy settings can be forced via group policy. I've tried adding a certificate exception to Firefox for our proxy, but Firefox is "Unable to obtain identification for this site". Is there any way to get Firefox to function correctly in this environment or somehow get Firefox to work through IE?

I am forced to use Firefox behind our corporate proxy and have to continually make exceptions just to get to sites, but even this doesn't always work. I don't know much about certificates, but I know certificates are issued by our organization for each user and device. I've tried exporting the personal certificate from IE and importing it into Firefox without success (couldn't export certificate completely and in correct format for Firefox) and am not sure if I'm even taking the right approach. IE is our only approved browser and I'm sure part of the reason is that proxy settings can be forced via group policy. I've tried adding a certificate exception to Firefox for our proxy, but Firefox is "Unable to obtain identification for this site". Is there any way to get Firefox to function correctly in this environment or somehow get Firefox to work through IE?

All Replies (3)

curtisa
curtisa
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I suspect you've probably already tried this, but just in case:

  1. Click the menu button
  2. Click on Options
  3. Click on the Advanced tab (far right)
  4. Under Advanced, click on the Network tab
  5. Click the "Settings.." button
  6. Select "use system proxy settings"
  7. Click OK

Firefox should use the same proxy settings that you have configured in IE.

FredMcD
FredMcD
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Also check with the ISP master. What you want may be blocked.

jscher2000 - Support Volunteer
jscher2000 - Support Volunteer
  • Top 10 Contributor
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I think most proxies work the same way: they generate a fake certificate for the website and present that to your browser so they can decrypt and inspect the traffic between you and the site. It's a hassle having to make exceptions for the individual fake certificates -- it's more efficient to recognize the certificate the proxy uses to sign the fake certificates as a valid certificate authority.

The trick is identifying that certificate. It might be easiest to do from IE or Chrome, since both use the Windows certificate store (Firefox uses its own). By inspecting the certificate for a secure site and the certificate used to sign it, you may be able to identify and export that certificate (DER or .cer format).

In Firefox, you would import that into the Authorities section of the Certificates dialog:

"3-bar" menu button (or Tools menu) > Options > Advanced > Certificates mini-tab > "View Certificates" button > Authorities mini-tab > "Import..." button

Of course, it probably is safest to verify with your IT that you've found and exported the correct certificate before importing it into Firefox.