How to make Notepad++ use proxy with username and password?

Question

This has been a frustration for a while - I am trying to figure out how to configure Notepad++ (now at v5.6.8 Unicode) to use a proxy server with a specific username and password when connecting to check for updates. At the moment I get a dialog stating:

curl error
couldn't connect to host

When setting up the Plugin Manager I have given it the proxy server address in the form: username:password@server-address and supplied the port in the separate box - which works (although somewhat uncomfortable as this exposes my username/password).

How can I achieve the equivalent with the main update configuration? I've searched extensively on both the Notepad++ wiki and Google with no success other than a possible reference to using a local proxy to force connections to gateway properly.

Answer 1

Notepad++ uses Generic Updater for win32 (it's free).

The updater is located here: C:\Program Files (x86)\Notepad++\updater Assuming you've used default installation path and running 64-bit windows and notepad++ 32-bit. If not look try here as well: C:\Program Files\Notepad++\updater\

What you need to do is start command line (e.g. Start->run->cmd OR Start->(search programs and files)->command) as administrator and execute the following lines:

1. cd /d C:\Program Files (x86)\Notepad++\updater
2. gup -options

This will bring up proxy settings dialog where you can enter your proxy address.

Answer 2

Since it appears to be using curl, I tried setting the http_proxy environment variable and that seemed to work as well. I set it to something like

http://username:password@proxy.domain.com:port/

Might be more compatible, central, and obvious than Generic Updater's internal config.

Note, curl also uses https_proxy and ftp_proxy environment variables. Doesn't appear to be needed for current versions of notepad++, but if you're setting one, you may want to set the others for future proofing (HTTPS is probably more important than FTP).