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I want to use Fiddler for a specific application that will manually turn the proxy on and off for (Firefox 3.6 using FiddlerHook). That is the only application I want proxied, but I can't seem to find a way to get Fiddler to not set itself as the WinINET proxy.

I have turned off "Act as System Proxy on startup" and "Monitor all connections", but Fiddler still sets itself as the WinINET proxy when I turn on capture events.

And FiddlerHook will not send events to Fiddler unless capture events is turned on. Actually, it will if you set it to force - see my workaround answer below. Still looking for a better one though.

Cœur
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studgeek
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1 Answers1

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One workaround/approach I have found is to leave "capture events" off in Fiddler, but then set FiddlerHook to "force". Apparently Fiddler will still accept events even when "capture events" is off.

It feels like there should be a better solution though. One that allows the developer to leave FiddlerHook in "auto".

In the meantime I will mark this as the answer. For other, do read comments for some context.

studgeek
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  • FiddlerHook's "Force" option is designed for exactly the scenario you describe-- can you elaborate on why you're still looking? – EricLaw May 17 '11 at 02:58
  • It could be a wrong assumption (on my part) of what "capture events" is supposed to do and/or FiddlerHook is supposed to do (I find the Fiddler docs a bit tricky to follow). Thinking of "Capture Events" as "Register as the WinINET System Proxy" as you describe is probably a better way to think about it. But that isn't 100% correct when working with FiddlerHook. FiddlerHook in "auto" seems to use "Capture Events" to turn itself on/off (which is what confused me). So would you say that "Act as System Proxy on startup" should be called "capture events on startup"? – studgeek May 17 '11 at 11:46
  • To further confuse things, it seems that Firefox 4 now uses (or at least watches) WinINET, so turning on "capture events" proxies it even without FiddlerHook turned on. If you want to give me a better answer I can approve yours, or just given me more info and I will improve mine - thanks! – studgeek May 17 '11 at 11:47
  • Fiddler always collects requests that are sent to it, regardless of any other settings. "Capture Traffic" controls two things: 1> A Registry value that FiddlerHook checks for its Auto mode, and 2> the WinINET system proxy setting. FF4's new "System Proxy" mode watches the WinINET preference, removing much of the point of FiddlerHook except for very narrow scenarios (like yours, apparently :-) – EricLaw May 24 '11 at 03:28