Overview
Several factors can cause your proxies to not work properly - the most common cause is configuration issues. In this article, we will simply outline instructions on how to set them up correctly and additional instructions to verify if they are working properly and additional instructions to verify.
It is important to walk through these steps before contacting our Support Team, as they will need additional details and screen capture potentially to help you troubleshoot any issues you are experiencing. Screen captures of certain configuration pages in your system will greatly help us understand your issue.
CONTENTS OF THIS ARTICLE
Overview
- What type of proxy do you have?
- Proxy Authorization
- Configuring Your Browser
- Testing Your Proxies
- My proxy appears fine on whatismyip.com, or it works on other sites but does not work for my specific use case.
- Residential Proxy
What type of proxy do you have?
The instructions below are based on the type of proxy you are using. Before proceeding, see the instructions below based on your specific proxy package.
For dedicated, semi-dedicated, or ISP proxies continue below.
If you have residential proxies, head over to the Residential Proxy section of this document.
Proxy Authorization
The first step in using your proxies is authorizing your public IP in your dashboard. You can read the more detailed article here about IP authorizations or simply follow the steps below. Once authorized, you are one step away from using your proxies!
To authorize your computer, you’ll need your public IP address.
To get this, simply click here or type whats my ip in your browser’s address bar. Alternatively, you can go to whatismyip.com or whatismyipaddress.com.
You should get a similar page.
You will see in the highlighted box your public IP address. You need to copy this.
Log in to your IPv4 Proxy Dashboard.
Choose the type of authorization you want depending on your use case. For HTTP or SOCKS choose Via IP; otherwise choose, Username/Password
Enter or paste the public address you copied in the previous step into the IP field then click Add IP
A dialog box will appear to confirm that your public IP has been added. There will be approximately a 5-minute waiting period for your IP to be fully authorized.
You’ll know it’s authorized once the Remove button is available next to it.
Configuring Your Browser
Next is configuring your browser with your proxy. If you aren't using your proxy with a specific program e.g Incognition, the following steps will help you set up your proxies in your browser. Regardless if you have a special use case that requires the use of such programs, we still encourage you to manually configure your browser with your proxy to isolate where the issue is.
Disabling Extensions
Before proceeding to manually configure your proxies in your browser, you must disable any proxy extension your browser may have as that may interfere with the test. Note that disabling an extension will only turn it off and not remove it.
See below for how to disable extensions in each type of browser:
Firefox
Click the menu button , click Add-ons and Themes, and select Extensions.
Scroll through the list of extensions.
Click the blue toggle for the proxy extension you wish to disable.
Proceed to manually configure Firefox with your proxy.
Google Chrome
In Google Chrome, click the “Customize and control Google Chrome” button from the browser’s top-right corner.
Select Settings.
Click Extensions.
Click the blue toggle for the proxy extension you wish to disable.
Proceed to manually configure Google Chrome with your proxy.
Configuring Firefox
Connection settings to use a proxy can be set in Firefox Settings as follows:
Click the menu button and select Settings.
Scroll down the page to find the Network Settings section.
Click Settings… The Connection Settings dialog box will open.
Click the Manual proxy configuration radio button
In the HTTP Proxy field, type your proxy IP address and enter its appropriate port number.
Important notes:
Use port 3128 for Via IP authorizations (HTTP connections), port 80 in very rare situations where 3218 doesn't work, or 1080 (SOCKS connections).
Use port 4444 for Username/Password authorizations (HTTP connections), port 8000 in very rare situations where 4444 doesn't work, or 1081 (SOCKS connections).
Use port 8000 if you have a Residential proxy package.
Check the box that says Also use this proxy for FTP and HTTPS
If you’re using Firefox as your browser, take a screenshot of this configuration page.
Send the images to support@rayobyte.com, along with the description of your issue if you believe you’re having issues making your proxies work.
Click OK.
Configuring Chrome
Chrome does not offer any unique configuration options for setting a proxy server because it uses the same proxy settings as your operating system.
To change the Google Chrome proxy settings, first, click on the “Customize and control Google Chrome” button from the browser’s top-right corner. Its icon looks like three vertical dots. Then, click on Settings.
Select Settings.
Click Advanced.
Click System
In the System section, click Open your computer’s proxy settings. (For Windows 7 and Windows 8 or 8.1 users, this will open the Internet Properties window.)
This opens the proxy settings in windows where you have two options: configure the proxy settings with a script address or use a manually selected proxy server.
We will be manually configuring your proxy.
Under Manual proxy setup, toggle the Use a proxy server to On.
In the Address field, type the proxy IP you want to use for this computer
Enter the appropriate port number.
Important notes:
Use port 3128 for Via IP authorizations (HTTP connections), port 80 in very rare situations where 3218 doesn't work, or 1080 (SOCKS connections).
Use port 4444 for Username/Password authorizations (HTTP connections), port 8000 (in very rare situations where 4444 doesn't work), or 1081 (SOCKS connections).
Use port 8000 if you have a Residential proxy package.
Finally, click Save.
If you’re using Google Chrome as your browser, take a screenshot of this configuration page.
Send the images to support@rayobyte.com, along with the description of your issue if you believe you’re having issues making your proxies work.
Testing Your Proxies
You’ve authorized your public IP and configured your browser. What’s next? Now it’s time to see if the proxies actually work!
The simplest way to see if your proxies are working is by testing them in your browser. To do this, simply navigate to whatismyip.com or whatismyipaddress.com.
If either of the sites displays the proxy you received, and not your public IP then your proxy is working as expected!
My proxy appears fine on whatismyip.com, or it works on other sites but does not work for my specific use case.
Below are just some of the most popular use cases of our proxies. Having a full understanding of your use case is essential to us as this will not only enable us to come up with a solution for your issue but also provide better recommendations on which proxies will work better for your requirements.
Scraping
E-Commerce / Price Comparisons
Sneakers
Social Media Insights
Social Media Account Creation/Use
General Browsing
Gaming
SEO tools / Link-building
Web Traffic Generation
If you’re using your proxies for a very specific use case, especially one that involves using a 3rd party program or maybe general browsing where your proxy works on website X but not on website Y, it could be an indication that the proxy is banned on your target site. Please email us a description of your issue at support@rayobyte.com along with the additional information below.
Are all your IPs not working or only specific ones?
There would be cases where some IPs are likely working better than others, and we do offer free replacements for our dedicated and semi-dedicated proxies. We recommend that you replace the ones that aren't working first.
Was everything working fine, and the issue started happening just recently?
Was there anything that’s changed recently with your setup?
Detailed information about your use case, and websites you’re unable to access.
How frequently do you hit the site?
Specific programs you are using, along with screenshots of its configuration with our proxies in it.
If you’re scraping, provide the technology stack you’re using (curl, Python, or node.js), frameworks (Scrapy, Puppeteer, Requests) as well as the method in which you’re scraping (cURL like requests or a headless browser).
How many scrapes are you trying to do, and over what period of time (e.g - 1m scrapes per day)?
Residential Proxy
Note: Beginning March 2022, we're slowly trying to migrate away from our current platform to a new one to improve your overall experience. The following user interfaces you'll see may look slightly different.
If you're having issues logging in to your dashboard, or experiencing issues configuring or connecting with your residential proxy, don't hesitate to contact us at support@rayobyte.com.
Where are my credentials?
You should have gotten an email if you’ve recently signed up with our residential proxy or have been given a trial account to test.
The email provides you with information about your login credentials to access your account and your proxy information should you wish to get connected with your proxy immediately.
Logging into your dashboard
To log in to the dashboard, navigate to https://dashboard.residential.rayobyte.com/user-area/ and click Sign In
You will be prompted to enter your email address and password.
Testing your Residential proxy
Testing your residential proxy is not done any differently than any other type of proxy but has one small caveat - your port number. Residential proxies use port 8000. You can refer to the section Configuring Your Browser to manually configure and test your browser with your Residential proxy package with the credentials you were provided in the email.