Firefox proxy setup (Windows, macOS, Linux)

Published: 26 August 2026 · 6 min read

What you need before you start

Get these four values from your Roam dashboard and keep that tab open.

Field	Value
Server	gw.roamproxy.com
Port	41080
Username	generated in the dashboard
Password	generated in the dashboard

Step 1 — Open Firefox's proxy settings

Firefox has its own proxy settings, independent of the operating system — which is exactly why it is the easier browser to put behind Roam without touching anything else on the machine.

1. Open Settings (menu ☰ → Settings, or type about:preferences in the address bar).
2. Scroll to the bottom of General to Network Settings and click Settings….

Step 2 — Enter the Roam proxy

1. Select Manual proxy configuration.
2. HTTP Proxy: gw.roamproxy.com, Port: 41080.
3. Tick Also use this proxy for HTTPS.
4. Leave the SOCKS Host field empty.
5. Click OK.

Do not fill in the SOCKS field "as well". If both are set Firefox uses the HTTP proxy for web traffic anyway, but the empty SOCKS field makes the configuration unambiguous when you troubleshoot later.

Step 3 — Sign in when prompted

Load any website. Firefox shows a dialog titled Authentication required for gw.roamproxy.com. Enter your Roam username and password and tick Use Password Manager to remember this password so you are not asked again in this session. If the dialog never appears and pages just fail, the proxy address or port is wrong; if it appears repeatedly after you enter the credentials, the credentials are wrong — re-copy them from the dashboard.

Step 4 — Verify (properly)

Open the IP check or https://ip.sb and confirm a Roam exit IP in the region you expect. Then open two or three sites you actually use; an IP-check page is one small request and succeeds under conditions where real browsing does not. If the IP changed but sites time out, go to connected but not working.

Also run the WebRTC leak test. WebRTC can expose your real address to a site even while every normal request goes through the proxy. In Firefox, the fix is built in: open about:config, search media.peerconnection.enabled, and set it to false. Sites that need WebRTC (video calls) stop working in that profile — which is why the next section matters.

Keep it in a separate profile

A proxy set in Firefox's settings applies to the whole profile. If you want Roam for research and your normal identity for everything else, create a second profile: type about:profiles in the address bar, click Create a New Profile, and launch it from that page. Each profile has its own proxy settings, cookies, password manager and WebRTC preference, so the two identities never mix. Set the proxy only in the Roam profile.

When you need per-site rules or true SOCKS5

Firefox's built-in settings are all-or-nothing. For per-site routing (Roam for a few domains, direct for the rest), or if you specifically need SOCKS5 with authentication, install the FoxyProxy extension: it supports SOCKS5 username/password, per-pattern rules, and a toolbar switch. Enter the same server, port and credentials, choose SOCKS5 and enable Proxy DNS in that case.

If your network cannot reach the gateway

A browser setting cannot chain through another hop. If your network blocks direct connections to gw.roamproxy.com:41080, run a system-level client that supports chaining — Clash with dialer-proxy, or on macOS the setup in macOS proxy setup — and leave Firefox on Use system proxy settings instead.

Plans and what a session costs

Rotating residential traffic is billed at $2/GB with no monthly minimum, so a browser used for research or testing costs cents rather than a subscription. If you need one address that stays the same across sessions — anything with a login that reacts badly to a changing IP — a static residential IP is $4/IP/month. New accounts receive 300MB of trial traffic on their first top-up (from $2), which is more than enough to complete this tutorial and confirm the exit IP behaves the way your target site expects.

FAQ

I set SOCKS Host with the Roam credentials and nothing loads.

Firefox has no way to send a username and password to a SOCKS5 proxy, so the gateway rejects the unauthenticated connection and Firefox shows a blank page or a proxy error. Clear the SOCKS field, put the server in the HTTP Proxy field with Also use this proxy for HTTPS ticked, and sign in when the authentication dialog appears. If you specifically need SOCKS5, use the FoxyProxy extension.

The authentication dialog keeps coming back.

Repeated prompts mean the gateway is rejecting what you typed. Re-copy the username and password from the dashboard — a trailing space from a copy-paste is the usual cause. If the dialog never appears at all, the address or port is wrong, or your network cannot reach the gateway.

Does the HTTP proxy type leak DNS in Firefox?

Not for normal browsing. For HTTPS sites Firefox sends a CONNECT with the hostname to the proxy, and the proxy resolves it; for plain HTTP the full URL goes to the proxy. The DNS-leak concern applies to whole-device clients where non-browser traffic bypasses an HTTP proxy. What can leak in a browser is WebRTC — run the WebRTC test and disable media.peerconnection.enabled in the Roam profile.

Can I use Roam in one Firefox window and my normal connection in another?

Not within one profile — the proxy setting is profile-wide. Create a second profile at about:profiles and set the proxy only there; run both profiles side by side. FoxyProxy can alternatively switch per site within one profile, but separate profiles also keep cookies and logins apart, which is usually what you want.

Roam is the exit-IP layer for this setup: rotating residential at $2/GB, static residential at $4/IP/month, no monthly minimum. Create an account and get 300MB of trial traffic on your first top-up — enough to finish this tutorial and confirm the exit IP behaves the way your target site expects.