How to configure proxy authentication to work with Ubuntu Software Center?

I have tried put in apt config Acquire::http::proxy, and in Network>Network proxy with and without user:password@server:port and using environment variables http_proxy and https_proxy. Nothing seems to work, not even a single proxy authentication popup window.

The only proxy configuration working is within Firefox Edit> Preferences> Advanced> Network> Connection> Settings> Manual Proxy Configuration.

Using gconf to manually set the proxy doesn't work

Using Synaptic in previous Ubuntu versions was too simple.

9 Answers

Go to /etc/apt. Create the file apt.conf if you don't have it there. Write the following lines there.

Acquire::http::proxy "";
Acquire::https::proxy "";
Acquire::socks::proxy "socks://username:password@proxyserver:port/";

Save it. You are done.

I had the same problem. However I did have success by setting Acquire::http::proxy in /etc/apt/apt.conf in the format

Acquire::http::proxy "";

Note, I initially followed a recommendation somewhere on the web to put this in /etc/apt.conf. The correct path is /etc/apt/apt.conf

In the dash button, select the "Network" option. In the network configuration screen you should select "network proxy" > "manual", type your proxy data and finally "Apply to all system". If authentication is required, the login screen will appear.

Another option is to configure directly using the gconftool:

gconftool-2 -t string -s /system/http_proxy/host "YOUR_PROXY_ADDRESS"
gconftool-2 -t int -s /system/http_proxy/port PROXY_PORT
gconftool-2 -t bool -s /system/http_proxy/use_http_proxy true

I hope this help.

Well this worked - however it didn't work to just use Acquire::http::proxy "" - I had to use Acquire::http::proxy "" even though I haven't a password on the proxy (I just did use "user and pass" to keep the syntax).

I had set proxy details in System → Network and applied system wide but was unable to use the Software Center (Firefox was fine).

I do need to enter a username and password but my actual username and password entered in that string wouldn't work, but when I just put in the actual words "user:pass" the Software Center started working!

You need to confirm that your username or password must not contain : or @ in it. I had a similar problem and it was solved when I changed my password.

I've applied all of the above and none of it works for me AT FIRST, even though wget, apt-get, curl, web browsing, thunderbird and suchlike have all worked perfectly for years. Only software centre didn't work.

However, I left it with a grey screen for 2-4 minutes after applying the fix to /etc/apt/apt.conf: