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[Windows 7 64 bit; Python 2.7]

If I try to use Urllib2, I get this error

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "C:\Users\cYanide\Documents\Python Challenge\1\1.py", line 7, in <module>
    return _opener.open(url, data, timeout)
  File "C:\Python27\lib\urllib2.py", line 400, in open
    response = meth(req, response)
  File "C:\Python27\lib\urllib2.py", line 513, in http_response
  File "C:\Python27\lib\urllib2.py", line 438, in error
    return self._call_chain(*args)
  File "C:\Python27\lib\urllib2.py", line 372, in _call_chain
    result = func(*args)
  File "C:\Python27\lib\urllib2.py", line 521, in http_error_default
**urllib2.HTTPError: HTTP Error 407: Proxy Authentication Required**

Now, I'm behind a college proxy which requires authentication so that's probably the reason why this is happening. But isn't Urllib2 supposed to pull the authentication and proxy information from the system settings?

I understand there's some extra code I can insert into my program to 'hardcode' the proxy information in the program but I really don't want to do that unless it's the last resort. It would hinder the portability of the program across computers with different authentication IDs and Passwords in the college.

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1 Answer

up vote 2 down vote accepted

Your program should see the environment variables which are set in Windows. So have these two environment variables in your Windows.

HTTP_PROXY = http://username:password@proxyserver.domain.com

HTTPS_PROXY = https://username:password@proxyserver.domain.com

And go ahead with executing your script. It should pick up the proper authenticators and proceed with the connection.

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