Firefox proxy settings: manual proxy configuration, authentication and SOCKS5 DNS

Firefox proxy settings are separate from the operating system's, so you can proxy Firefox alone without touching other apps. Open Settings, scroll to the bottom of General, click Configure proxy, choose Manual proxy configuration, enter the host and HTTP port from your ProxyHive order, tick Also use this proxy for HTTPS and click OK. Firefox asks for the username and password on the first request; https://api.ipify.org then shows the IP you bought.

Steps checked against Firefox's own interface strings for the release channel (Firefox 157) on 2026-09-29.

#Before you start

1. Buy an IP and open the order in the dashboard at https://app.proxyhive.io.
2. Copy HOST, PORT, USERNAME and PASSWORD. Every ISP or datacenter IP is its own endpoint, with its own HTTP, HTTPS and SOCKS5 ports on the order.
3. Decide on authentication: username and password, or an IP allowlist on the order so your public IP connects with none. With SOCKS5 in Firefox's built-in settings, the allowlist is the only option (see below).

#Open Firefox proxy settings

1. Open the menu (three lines) and choose Settings, or go to about:preferences.
2. On General, scroll to the bottom. The section is Proxy settings in current releases and Network Settings in older ones.
3. Click Configure proxy (in older releases, Settings…). The Connection Settings dialog opens.

Faster: type proxy into Find in Settings at the top of the page.

If the options are greyed out, an administrator has locked them with an enterprise policy. Mozilla's connection settings article describes each option in the dialog.

#Manual proxy configuration

Under Configure Proxy Access to the Internet, select Manual proxy configuration and fill in:

Click OK. The change applies to new requests at once; reload any open tab.

"HTTPS" here means the proxy Firefox uses for https:// sites. Firefox opens an encrypted tunnel through the HTTP proxy, so the HTTP port is the right one for both boxes.

#Using SOCKS5 instead

Leave HTTP Proxy empty, enter HOST as SOCKS Host with the SOCKS5 port, select SOCKS v5, and tick Proxy DNS when using SOCKS v5 so site names are resolved at the proxy rather than by your own network. The trade-offs between the two are in HTTP vs SOCKS5 proxies.

#Authentication in Firefox

With the HTTP proxy, Firefox shows a dialog asking for a username and password the first time the proxy challenges it. Enter the ones from the order. If you let Firefox save them, tick Do not prompt for authentication if password is saved in Connection Settings and the prompt stops appearing.

The built-in SOCKS settings have no username or password fields, and Firefox does not prompt for SOCKS credentials. For SOCKS5 you have two routes:

• Put your public IP on the order's allowlist and connect with no credentials.
• Use FoxyProxy, which can send a SOCKS5 username and password in Firefox.

#Verify the exit IP

1. Open https://api.ipify.org?format=json in a new tab.
2. The ip value should be the address on your order.
3. If it shows your own IP, check that Manual proxy configuration is selected and that no extension has taken over the proxy settings (Connection Settings says so at the top when one has).

To test the IP without a browser, the curl guide does it in one command.

#One IP per Firefox profile

The built-in setting covers the whole Firefox profile. To run several IPs side by side:

• Separate Firefox profiles. Each profile has its own settings, cookies and logins. Create them from about:profiles, give each its own proxy, and open them in parallel. This is the plain way to keep one static IP per account or project, the case for buying a single static IP. ISP proxies are sold one at a time for this.
• Containers. Firefox containers share one profile's proxy setting. For a proxy per container or per tab, use FoxyProxy's Container Proxy or Tab Proxy, or SwitchyOmega for per-site rules.

#Troubleshooting

• "The proxy server is refusing connections." Wrong host or port, or a SOCKS5 port entered as the HTTP proxy.
• The password prompt returns within a session. Wrong username or password, or the order uses the allowlist and your current IP is not on it.
• SOCKS5 fails with no prompt. Firefox cannot send SOCKS credentials. Use the allowlist or FoxyProxy.
• Some requests bypass the proxy. Check No proxy for, and remember that DNS over HTTPS, if enabled, sends lookups to its own resolver.

For status codes and error pages, see the proxy error codes guide.