NS_E_REDIRECT_TO_PROXY (0XC00D2EE1) Fix: Proxy Redirect Error

What’s Happening Here

Your media player (Windows Media Player, VLC, or something similar) tried to connect to a streaming server, but the network said "go through this proxy instead." The player can’t handle that redirect — it’s not a browser. So you get 0XC00D2EE1.

I’ve seen this most often on corporate laptops with automatic proxy detection turned on, or when someone’s using a VPN that hijacks traffic. The culprit here is almost always a misconfigured proxy setting in Windows or your network adapter.

Cause #1: Windows Proxy Settings Are Overriding Direct Connection

This is the first thing to check. Windows has a global proxy setting in Internet Options that many apps (including Windows Media Player) pick up. If it’s set to automatically detect settings or points to a non-existent proxy server, you’ll get this error.

Fix It

1. Press Win + R, type inetcpl.cpl, and hit Enter.
2. Go to the Connections tab and click LAN settings.
3. Uncheck Automatically detect settings.
4. Also uncheck Use a proxy server for your LAN unless you’re absolutely sure you need one.
5. Click OK twice and restart your media player.

Pro tip: If you’re on a corporate network, ask your IT team for the correct proxy PAC file address. But for home networks, just turn it off.

Cause #2: VPN or Third-Party Firewall Interfering

VPN clients like Cisco AnyConnect, OpenVPN, or even some anti-virus suites (Norton, McAfee) can inject their own proxy rules into your network stack. When the VPN disconnects or reconnects, it sometimes leaves a broken proxy configuration behind.

Check and Fix

1. Disconnect your VPN entirely.
2. Open Windows Settings → Network & Internet → Proxy.
3. Under Automatic proxy setup, toggle Automatically detect settings to Off.
4. Under Manual proxy setup, make sure Use a proxy server is Off.
5. Restart your computer — not just the app.

If the error goes away, your VPN or security software is the problem. Reinstall it or update to the latest version. I’ve seen old Cisco AnyConnect clients leave proxy stubs behind. Upgrade if you can.

Cause #3: Registry Entry Left by a Previous Proxy Tool

Some older proxy tools (Proxifier, FreeProxy, etc.) write permanent keys to the registry. Even after you uninstall them, those keys stay and cause trouble.

Fix It

1. Open Regedit (press Win + R, type regedit, hit Enter). Back up your registry first — just in case.
2. Go to: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings
3. Look for these DWORD values: ProxyEnable, ProxyServer, AutoConfigURL.
4. Set ProxyEnable to 0. Delete ProxyServer and AutoConfigURL if they exist.
5. Close Regedit and reboot.

Don’t bother with deleting anything else — those three are the troublemakers.

Quick-Reference Summary

That’s it. Try cause #1 first — it fixes 80% of these cases. If not, move to cause #2. Cause #3 is rare but worth checking if you’ve used proxy tools in the past.