How to Fix wget Connection Refused Error when I’m behind a Proxy

Question: While downloading using wget, I get the following error “Connecting to <URL>.. failed: Connection refused.”. I’m behind a proxy server. How do I fix it?

Answer: Export the http_proxy variable with your proxy server name or ip address and then try downloading as explained below.

Connection refused error while using wget

If http_proxy environment variable is not set, you might receive the following message while downloading files from Internet using wget.

$ wget -O DrawIt.vba.gz http://www.vim.org/scripts/download_script.php?src_id=8798
--12:58:32--  http://www.vim.org/scripts/download_script.php?src_id=8798
           => `DrawIt.vba.gz'
Resolving www.vim.org... 216.34.181.97
Connecting to www.vim.org|216.34.181.97|:80... failed: Connection refused.

Export HTTP_PROXY Variable

Specify your proxy server name (or) ip-address (along with any port number if necessary) in the http_proxy variable as shown below.

$ export http_proxy='proxy_server_ip:8080'

Use colon ( : ) as delimiter between ip/host and port number. Following is an example.

$ export http_proxy='http://myproxy.cmp.com:8080/'

Now, you should be able to download using wget without any issue.

$ wget -O DrawIt.vba.gz http://www.vim.org/scripts/download_script.php?src_id=8798
--12:59:02--  http://www.vim.org/scripts/download_script.php?src_id=8798
           => `DrawIt.vba.gz'
Resolving proxy.sgp.hp.com... 16.158.235.10
Connecting to proxy.sgp.hp.com|16.158.235.10|:8080... connected.
Proxy request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK
Length: unspecified [application/octetstream]
    [                                                                        ] 21,668        --.--K/s
12:59:04 (164.19 KB/s) - `DrawIt.vba.gz' saved [21668]