How to disable "Automatically detect settings" in IE8
I have been asked today to help with Internet Explorer 8 settings management. My standard answer “most of the IE settings could be managed via GPO” didn’t work on 100% because there are no settings in GPO to enable/disable “Automatically detect settings”. [Correction] This particular setting could be found in the Internet Explorer Maintenance folder of User Settings GPO but this article is mostly about how to find quick solution using Process Monitor tool. Thanks to Simon to point this out.
When I see such a challenge I always use Mark’s tool Process Monitor which helped me this time as well. I run procmon.exe and in IE8 I went to Internet Options -> Connections -> LAN settings -> and uncheck “Automatically detect settings”. Click “Capture” in Process Monitor app, came back to IE and hit OK on all opened windows. Close IE and run back to Process Monitor and stop event capturing.
Quick review of results gave me target registry key:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\Connections]
"DefaultConnectionSettings"=hex:46,00,00,00,07,00,00,00,01,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,01,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,90,b6,c6,d7,21,5d,cc,01,\
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,06,00,00,00,17,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,fe,\
80,00,00,00,00,00,00,b4,b8,7a,8d,90,e7,17,bc,0c,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,ff,ff,ff,ff,ff,ff,ff,ff,00,00,00,00,\
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,17,00,00,00,00,00,\
00,00,fe,80,00,00,00,00,00,00,41,e6,7c,8b,91,87,d9,02,0f,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,17,00,00,\
00,00,00,00,00,fe,80,00,00,00,00,00,00,ed,2c,74,3e,d7,32,18,63,10,00,00,00,\
00,00,00,00,57,b8,3e,70,00,00,00,80,4c,00,31,00,00,00,00,00,e6,3e,60,00,10,\
20,4d,49,43,52,4f,53,7e,31,00,00,40,00,08,00,04,00,ef,be,fc,3c,f0,9d,e6,3e,\
60,00,2a,00,00,00,21,29,00,00,00,00,02,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
00,00,00,4d,00,69,00,63,00,72,00,6f,00,73,00,6f,00,66,00,74,00,00,00,18,00,\
02,00,00,00,0a,45,0e,9e,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,6e,64,6f,77,73,00,3c,00,08,\
00,04,00,ef,be,fc,3c,f0,9d,75,3e,94,8d,2a,00,00,00,22,29,00,00,00,00,02,00,\
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,57,00,69,00,6e,00,64,00,6f,00,77,\
00,73,00,00,00,16,00,6c,00,b1,00,00,00,00,00,fc,3c,dc,a0,16,20,48,69,73,74,\
6f,72,79,00,3c,00,08,00,04,00,ef,be,fc,3c,f0,9d,fc,3c,dc,a0,2a,00,00,00,24,\
29,00,00,02,00,00,00,c0,a8,dc,01,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,48,00,69,00,\
73,00,74,00,6f,00,72,00,79,00,00,00,16,00,1a,00,00,00,03,00,ef,be,60,35,39,\
ff,a7,c2,cf,11,bf,f4,44,45,53,54,00,00,16,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
72,b8,3e,70,00,00,00,80,71,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
00,00,00,00,00,00,02,00,00,00,c0,a8,5e,01,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00