What does WinHTTP Web Proxy Auto-Discovery Service do?

[Brian]

And why is it filling my system log with events that it tried starting and
failed and was not responsive so it was stopped? At this point I am inclined
to just disable it.

[Dave Nickason [SBS MVP]]

Are you getting errors and the service fails to start? I think that in that
case I'd troubleshoot to figure out what's going on. What are the specific
errors when it fails?

It's normal for that to stop and start itself frequently throughout the day,
logging an informational message (but not an error) each time. You can see
what it does in the description in Services - it's to let programs get the
proxy server configuration, and apparently you can disable it. Even so, I'd
want to know what's preventing it from starting normally.

Post by Brian
And why is it filling my system log with events that it tried starting and
failed and was not responsive so it was stopped? At this point I am inclined
to just disable it.

[Brian]

I guess it is normal operation - although I would like to not see the log
messages. They are in order of apperance in the log file:

The WinHTTP Web Proxy Auto-Discovery Service has been idle for 15 minutes,
it will be shut down. ID:12503
The WinHTTP Web Proxy Auto-Discovery Service suspended operation. ID: 12517
The WinHTTP Web Proxy Auto-Discovery Service service entered the stopped
state. ID: 7036 (Service Control Manager)
The WinHTTP Web Proxy Auto-Discovery Service service was successfully sent a
start control. ID: 7035 (Service Control Manager)
The WinHTTP Web Proxy Auto-Discovery Service service entered the running
state. ID: 7036 (Service Control Manager)

Thanks.

Post by Dave Nickason [SBS MVP]
Are you getting errors and the service fails to start? I think that in that
case I'd troubleshoot to figure out what's going on. What are the specific
errors when it fails?
It's normal for that to stop and start itself frequently throughout the day,
logging an informational message (but not an error) each time. You can see
what it does in the description in Services - it's to let programs get the
proxy server configuration, and apparently you can disable it. Even so, I'd
want to know what's preventing it from starting normally.

Post by Brian
And why is it filling my system log with events that it tried starting and
failed and was not responsive so it was stopped? At this point I am inclined
to just disable it.

[Howard]

I started to receive these very same events after I installed sp1 to my SBS
2003.

Howard

Post by Brian
I guess it is normal operation - although I would like to not see the log
The WinHTTP Web Proxy Auto-Discovery Service has been idle for 15 minutes,
it will be shut down. ID:12503
The WinHTTP Web Proxy Auto-Discovery Service suspended operation. ID: 12517
The WinHTTP Web Proxy Auto-Discovery Service service entered the stopped
state. ID: 7036 (Service Control Manager)
The WinHTTP Web Proxy Auto-Discovery Service service was successfully sent a
start control. ID: 7035 (Service Control Manager)
The WinHTTP Web Proxy Auto-Discovery Service service entered the running
state. ID: 7036 (Service Control Manager)
Thanks.

Post by Dave Nickason [SBS MVP]
Are you getting errors and the service fails to start? I think that in that
case I'd troubleshoot to figure out what's going on. What are the specific
errors when it fails?
It's normal for that to stop and start itself frequently throughout the day,
logging an informational message (but not an error) each time. You can see
what it does in the description in Services - it's to let programs get the
proxy server configuration, and apparently you can disable it. Even so, I'd
want to know what's preventing it from starting normally.

Post by Brian
And why is it filling my system log with events that it tried starting and
failed and was not responsive so it was stopped? At this point I am inclined
to just disable it.

[JesJr]

You try visiting the Developers Library at the link below:

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa384273.aspx

It might be a helpful point of reference.

Post by Howard
I started to receive these very same events after I installed sp1 to my SBS
2003.
Howard

Post by Brian
I guess it is normal operation - although I would like to not see the log
The WinHTTP Web Proxy Auto-Discovery Service has been idle for 15 minutes,
it will be shut down. ID:12503
The WinHTTP Web Proxy Auto-Discovery Service suspended operation. ID: 12517
The WinHTTP Web Proxy Auto-Discovery Service service entered the stopped
state. ID: 7036 (Service Control Manager)
The WinHTTP Web Proxy Auto-Discovery Service service was successfully sent a
start control. ID: 7035 (Service Control Manager)
The WinHTTP Web Proxy Auto-Discovery Service service entered the running
state. ID: 7036 (Service Control Manager)
Thanks.

Post by Dave Nickason [SBS MVP]
Are you getting errors and the service fails to start? I think that in that
case I'd troubleshoot to figure out what's going on. What are the specific
errors when it fails?
It's normal for that to stop and start itself frequently throughout the day,
logging an informational message (but not an error) each time. You can see
what it does in the description in Services - it's to let programs get the
proxy server configuration, and apparently you can disable it. Even so, I'd
want to know what's preventing it from starting normally.

Post by Brian
And why is it filling my system log with events that it tried starting and
failed and was not responsive so it was stopped? At this point I am inclined
to just disable it.