'apt-get' does not work with Proxy

For the command

sudo apt-get update

I get following error:

W: Failed to fetch http://ch.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/maverick-updates/multiverse/binary-i386/Packages.gz  
407  Proxy Authentication Required (The ISA Server requires authorization to fulfill the request. Access to the Web Proxy filter is denied. )

I am running Ubuntu 10.10 installed on Windows XP using VirtualBox. For Internet connections I am using proxy server with an authentication. I tried to use gnome-network-proxy tool to set proxy settings system-wide.

After that /etc/environment has been updated by http_proxy variable with the format http://my_proxy:port/, there were no authentication data.

I checked this with Firefox. Browser asked my for login and password and everything was working fine. It was unfortunately not the case for apt-get. I have also tried to do as described here. Unfortunately it does not work.

May it be somehow related to the fact that a proxy is in a Windows domain, any ideas?

My proxy name is http-proxy. Is '-' a special character here?

Solution 1:

For my corporate network I was given by my administrator the proxy name in the format:

http://[username]:[password]@[proxy-webaddress]:[port]

For our Windows network our username is in the format:

[domain]\[username]

For example:

http://mywindowsdomain\fossfreedom:[email protected]:8080

This was added to the following NEW file (it doesnt exist by default):

gksudo gedit /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/01proxy

The following text was added:

Acquire::http::Proxy "http://mywindowsdomain\fossfreedom:[email protected]:8080";

If you are using an anonymous proxy then you don't need your login credentials:

Acquire::http::Proxy "http://askubuntu-proxy.com:8080";

Save the file and then checked that all was ok with:

sudo apt-get update

Solution 2:

I have found that USERNAME and PASSWORD entered into the "Network Proxy" applet does not get stored into the apt.conf file you must manually add the username and password in the /etc/apt/apt.conf file.

The "Network Proxy" applet only stores the hostname and the port.

The basic syntax is

Acquire::http::proxy "http://User:Password@host:port/";

Acquire::ftp::proxy "ftp://User:Password@host:port/";

Acquire::https::proxy "https://User:Password@host:port/";

If you are using Windows usernames and password follow this advice:

User = Domain/Username

(windows users use / not \)

If you are using Windows strong/complex password with special characters you must use the URL encoding for the values, for example an "@" in the password would be "%40".