[German]A brief question to admins in enterprise environments using Windows 10 V1809 in combination with a proxy.pac. Are there issues with the Windows startmenu search hanging when a proxy.pac configuration file is used?
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What is proxy.pac?
Using a proxy auto-config file (proxy.pac), a web browser can automatically find the appropriate proxy server for a desired URL. In 2017, Microsoft published the article Use proxy auto-configuration (.pac) files with IEAK 11 about this topic.
Windows 10 has issues with proxy.pac files
But these PAC files are probably a problem under Windows 10. At German site administrator.de there is this post from February 2019, where an administrator complains about problems with the proxy configuration under Windows 10. There is a Microsoft support article Windows 10 does not read a PAC file referenced by a file protocol, which deals with this problem.
Does proxy.pac kills Windows V1809 startmenu search?
Now I came come across this post while browsing the German Windows 10 forum of Microsoft Answers. There an administrator in a company network has the following problems (I've translated the post):
Windows 10 1809 Bug? Windows Search Menu hangs due to proxy.pac
Good afternoon, everyone,
we have tried to upgated the PCs within our company to Windows 10 Pro 1809. Several tests have shown that this Windows version is not compatible with Proxy.pac.
As soon as you try to enter something in the start menu (Start Search), the complete start menu hangs up. If the Proxy.pac from IE is deactivated, the start menu works again.
I get the feeling that this is not an isolated case, but that the bug has been slumbering in Windows 10 V1809 for some time. On reddit.com there is the 6 month old thread Proxy pac broken in Win 10 1809, in which a user complains about a malfunctioning autoconfiguration. But because it was still a preview at that time, the whole thing came to nothing. But a week ago someone with the same problem hit the ground running.
Hi Epyon – did you find a solution and/or cause for this? I'm experiencing the same thing in a domain environment after updating to 1809 (1803 works fine), proxy also delivered by pac via GPO. If you're reading, any info would be appreciated :) thanks.
The original poster writes that he never found a solution. In the Symantec forum you can find this post, but it's not quite appropriate (after reinstalling Symantec Desktop Encryption 10.4.2 HF1 the proxy worked again).
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I directed the thread starter of this post to this Technet thread from January 2019. But even there there is no solution. Final question: Did any of you come across this problem and are there any new findings or even a solution?
