Clearing WPAD cache and settings (solution)

Hi all,

I want to share the solution to clear all WPAD cache and settings on a Windows 10 or 11 machine.

Step 1: Regedit

Computer\HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-19\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\Wpad: delete all underlying keys

Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\Connections: delete the keys "DefaultConnectionSettings" and "SaveLegacySettings"

Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\WinHttpAutoProxySvc: in the value "start", change the data value from "3" to "4

Step 2: Internet Options

Advanced tab > Reset Internet Explorer Settings (incl Delete personal settings) > Reset

Step 3: CMD as admin

ipconfig /flushdns

Step 4: reboot the machine twice

Clearing the WPAD can be useful when getting this output from dsregcmd /status "Auto Detect PAC Status : Failed to auto detect the Proxy Auto-Configuration (PAC) script using WPAD. code: 0x80072f94" (Hybrid Azure AD Join Failure)