How to check if machines are set to use a proxy (remotely)?

Question

I have a Windows active directory domain network and a list of Windows machine names that I want to check if they are set to use a proxy (internet settings > connections > lan settings > proxy > use a proxy server / address).

I have seen some interesting examples of getting information on remote machines via powershell or some remote registry tricks.

Is there a script or utility that would show me machines/users that are not set to a proxy, or what their proxy setting is?

Most of the machines are Windows XP (SP3), a small number are Windows 7. Many of them do NOT have powershell installed however. They are all domain computers, so I would have full domain admin permissions.

Solution

Just remotely grab information from the registry. Since you have examples of getting remote registry information this should be easy. Keep in mind that the proxy setting can be set both per-user and per-computer. In my experience it is far more common to see it as a per-user setting.

See:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\Proxy*

Comments

[Srinivasan MK]

Well the first issue that comes to mind is that the ProxyEnable setting is typically per user not per machine.

[Srinivasan MK]

I will also add that in the past the best solution that I have found to determining proxy status is to make the check part of the login script and have the information stored in a fashion that could be collected locally (we wrote it to a HKLM key that SMS/SCCM picked up as part of it's inventory).

[Zoredache]

BTW, why worry about people who are not set to use a proxy. Just force it to be what you want through a group policy?

[Srinivasan MK]

So then you don't put them in the group that gets the proxy policy?

[Scott Szretter]

So I am settling on using some VBS code to connect to machines on the LAN and get their proxy status to be able to do quick checks and address issues in the short term. Ultimately I agree that this needs to be managed via AD GPO's, so we are also working on setting that up. Something I ran in to by the way, there appears to be a difference between where a domain proxy setting is stored and non-domain: stackoverflow.com/questions/7259904/…