# Problem installing rails through gems on Windows XP behind a firewall

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/problem-installing-rails-through-gems-on-windows-xp-behind-a-firewall/118179>\
**Category:** Rails\
**Created:** [October 24, 2007, 3:03pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/problem-installing-rails-through-gems-on-windows-xp-behind-a-firewall/118179 "2007-10-24T15:03:44Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![mukesh23singh](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/b38774/32.png) [@mukesh23singh](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/mukesh23singh)\
**Post date:** [October 24, 2007, 3:03pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/problem-installing-rails-through-gems-on-windows-xp-behind-a-firewall/118179/1 "2007-10-24T15:03:44Z")

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I am trying to install Ruby On Rails on my office computer which runs  
Windows XP Professional Edition. I get this error:

C:\>gem install rails --remote  
ERROR: While executing gem … (Gem::RemoteFetcher::FetchError)  
Bad file descriptor - connect(2)(Errno::EBADF)

C:\>

I suspect it is the firewall that is blocking the download because  
I’ve had this at a previous office I worked at.

If I need to seek help from the IT support guys, who’re not aware of  
Rails and would not be able to figure out what the problem is, what  
must I tell them to do precisely?

Thanks.

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**Author:** ![mukesh23singh](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/b38774/32.png) [@mukesh23singh](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/mukesh23singh)\
**Post date:** [October 24, 2007, 3:06pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/problem-installing-rails-through-gems-on-windows-xp-behind-a-firewall/118179/2 "2007-10-24T15:06:05Z")

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On Oct 24, 6:02 am, Mukesh S. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote:

> I’ve had this at a previous office I worked at.
> 
> If I need to seek help from the IT support guys, who’re not aware of  
> Rails and would not be able to figure out what the problem is, what  
> must I tell them to do precisely?
> 
> Thanks.

is this the NTLM proxy issue?

[http://www.softiesonrails.com/2006/11/14/we-can-all-install-rails-now](http://www.softiesonrails.com/2006/11/14/we-can-all-install-rails-now)

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**Author:** ![mukesh23singh](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/b38774/32.png) [@mukesh23singh](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/mukesh23singh)\
**Post date:** [December 20, 2007, 9:21pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/problem-installing-rails-through-gems-on-windows-xp-behind-a-firewall/118179/3 "2007-12-20T21:21:47Z")

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If you’re behind a firewall that requires NTLM, you might want to  
check  
[http://www.softiesonrails.com/2006/11/14/we-can-all-install-rails-now](http://www.softiesonrails.com/2006/11/14/we-can-all-install-rails-now)  
– or look for RubySSPI on RubyForge.

-Brett

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![mukesh23singh](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/b38774/32.png) [@mukesh23singh](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/mukesh23singh)\
**Post date:** [October 31, 2007, 4:40pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/problem-installing-rails-through-gems-on-windows-xp-behind-a-firewall/118179/4 "2007-10-31T16:40:10Z")

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Try this:

set http\_proxy=http://myproxy.mysite.com:80

and then do the gem install command. If you don’t know what your  
proxy URL and port numbers are try going to IE -\> Tools -\> Internet  
Options -\> Connections -\> LAN Settings -\> Proxy Server

You may see that a proxy server has been setup for you there. It may  
be grayed out, you can click the “Use proxy server” to see the whole  
address and port number. Just use this in your http\_proxy environment  
variable. The gem install will find the http\_proxy env variable and  
it will use that.

Hope that works!