Limit Fiddler to capture from only one browser?

[David Rush]

As a web developer I love Fiddler.  I'm trying to use it to debug a problem with a web application running in Firefox, but the chattiness of other applications (Google Chrome, Google talk), is constantly spewing into my Fiddler capture.  I've been unable to get it to stop.  Totally exiting Chrome while using Fiddler on Firefox helps, but I'm still getting some traffic to Google's "talkgadget".

How can I tell Fiddler that I ONLY want to see traffic from a specific browser?

I've unchecked "Act as a system proxy on startup" and "Monitor all connections" (and manually configured Firefox to use Fiddler as a proxy) but I'm still getting Chrome and talkgadget traffic.  I've tried setting the Chrome proxy settings, which brings up the IE "Internet Properties" dialog, and unchecking "Use a proxy server", but as soon as I start capturing again that box seems to get re-checked.

David

[EricLaw]

1. Monitor all connections isn't relevant. Leave it checked.
2. Act as system proxy on startup is relevant. Uncheck it.
3. When using Fiddler, don't ever choose File > Capture Traffic. Doing so sets Fiddler as your system proxy, such that IE/Google/apps/etc traffic goes through Fiddler.
4. In Firefox, manually point Firefox directly at Fiddler using either FiddlerHook ("Force traffic to Fiddler") or the manual option in Firefox's Tools > Options > Advanced > Network > Connection Settings > Manual Proxy Configuration > 127.0.0.1, 8888, Use this proxy server for all protocols.

Other Browsers

To capture Chrome (Chromium/Aviator/etc) replace step #3 by launching Chrome thusly:

  chrome --proxy-server=http=127.0.0.1:8888;https=127.0.0.1:8888

There's no straightforward way to configure the proxy settings so only IE traffic is captured; instead, use the Filters tab to filter out non IE traffic.

[David Rush]

Eric:

1. Done.

2. Done.

3. Ah, so Fiddler will capture traffic if it's explicitly sent to it, even without "Capture Traffic" turned on.  Gotcha.

4. Done.

I also discovered the ability to filter by process yesterday.  I couldn't get it to work at first because I was dragging the "Any Process" thingy and dropping it on the session I wanted to watch in the Fiddler display.  After watching one of the videos it was clear that you drag the thingy onto the browser's (or other app) WINDOW.

Thanks for the help.

David