diff --git a/src/vs/workbench/electron-main/main.ts b/src/vs/workbench/electron-main/main.ts
index 05624ff115d..e1f5ca381c5 100644
--- a/src/vs/workbench/electron-main/main.ts
+++ b/src/vs/workbench/electron-main/main.ts
@@ -123,7 +123,7 @@ function main(ipcServer: Server, userEnv: IEnv): void {
 	lifecycle.manager.ready();
 
 	// Load settings
-	settings.manager.load();
+	settings.manager.loadSync();
 
 	// Propagate to clients
 	windows.manager.ready(userEnv);
diff --git a/src/vs/workbench/electron-main/settings.ts b/src/vs/workbench/electron-main/settings.ts
index e1b86a8c7dd..9bfab0a387b 100644
--- a/src/vs/workbench/electron-main/settings.ts
+++ b/src/vs/workbench/electron-main/settings.ts
@@ -20,8 +20,8 @@ export class SettingsManager extends UserSettings {
 		});
 	}
 
-	public load(): boolean {
-		const settingsChanged = super.load();
+	public loadSync(): boolean {
+		const settingsChanged = super.loadSync();
 
 		// Store into global so that any renderer can access the value with remote.getGlobal()
 		if (settingsChanged) {
diff --git a/src/vs/workbench/node/userSettings.ts b/src/vs/workbench/node/userSettings.ts
index 309efa511d8..83dd90840a2 100644
--- a/src/vs/workbench/node/userSettings.ts
+++ b/src/vs/workbench/node/userSettings.ts
@@ -12,7 +12,9 @@ import path = require('path');
 import json = require('vs/base/common/json');
 import objects = require('vs/base/common/objects');
 import {EventProvider} from 'vs/base/common/eventProvider';
+import {TPromise} from 'vs/base/common/winjs.base';
 import {EventSource} from 'vs/base/common/eventSource';
+import {IWorkspaceContextService} from 'vs/workbench/services/workspace/common/contextService';
 
 export interface ISettings {
 	settings: any;
@@ -33,7 +35,7 @@ export class UserSettings {
 
 	private _onChange: EventSource<(settings: ISettings) => void>;
 
-	constructor(appSettingsPath:string, appKeybindingsPath: string) {
+	constructor(appSettingsPath: string, appKeybindingsPath: string) {
 		this.appSettingsPath = appSettingsPath;
 		this.appKeybindingsPath = appKeybindingsPath;
 		this._onChange = new EventSource<(settings: ISettings) => void>();
@@ -41,16 +43,45 @@ export class UserSettings {
 		this.registerWatchers();
 	}
 
+	public static getValue(contextService: IWorkspaceContextService, key: string, fallback?: any): TPromise<any> {
+		return new TPromise((c, e) => {
+			const appSettingsPath = contextService.getConfiguration().env.appSettingsPath;
+
+			fs.readFile(appSettingsPath, (error /* ignore */, fileContents) => {
+				let root = {};
+				let content = fileContents && fileContents.toString();
+				if (!content) {
+					content = '{}';
+				}
+
+				try {
+					let contents = json.parse(content) || {};
+					for (let key in contents) {
+						UserSettings.setNode(root, key, contents[key]);
+					}
+
+					return c(UserSettings.doGetValue(root, key, fallback));
+				} catch (error) {
+					return c(UserSettings.doGetValue(root, key, fallback)); // parse error
+				}
+			});
+		});
+	}
+
 	public get onChange(): EventProvider<(settings: ISettings) => void> {
 		return this._onChange.value;
 	}
 
 	public getValue(key: string, fallback?: any): any {
+		return UserSettings.doGetValue(this.globalSettings.settings, key, fallback);
+	}
+
+	private static doGetValue(globalSettings: any, key: string, fallback?: any): any {
 		if (!key) {
 			return fallback;
 		}
 
-		let value = this.globalSettings.settings;
+		let value = globalSettings;
 
 		let parts = key.split('\.');
 		while (parts.length && value) {
@@ -77,7 +108,7 @@ export class UserSettings {
 		this.timeoutHandle = global.setTimeout(() => {
 
 			// Reload
-			let didChange = this.load();
+			let didChange = this.loadSync();
 
 			// Emit event
 			if (didChange) {
@@ -87,8 +118,8 @@ export class UserSettings {
 		}, UserSettings.CHANGE_BUFFER_DELAY);
 	}
 
-	public load(): boolean {
-		let loadedSettings = this.doLoad();
+	public loadSync(): boolean {
+		let loadedSettings = this.doLoadSync();
 		if (!objects.equals(loadedSettings, this.globalSettings)) {
 
 			// Keep in class
@@ -100,40 +131,17 @@ export class UserSettings {
 		return false; // no changed value
 	}
 
-	private doLoad(): ISettings {
-		let settings = this.doLoadSettings();
+	private doLoadSync(): ISettings {
+		let settings = this.doLoadSettingsSync();
 
 		return {
 			settings: settings.contents,
 			settingsParseErrors: settings.parseErrors,
-			keybindings: this.doLoadKeybindings()
+			keybindings: this.doLoadKeybindingsSync()
 		};
 	}
 
-	private doLoadSettings(): { contents: any; parseErrors?: string[]; } {
-
-		function setNode(root: any, key: string, value: any): any {
-			let segments = key.split('.');
-			let last = segments.pop();
-
-			let curr = root;
-			segments.forEach((s) => {
-				let obj = curr[s];
-				switch (typeof obj) {
-					case 'undefined':
-						obj = curr[s] = {};
-						break;
-					case 'object':
-						break;
-					default:
-						console.log('Conflicting user settings: ' + key + ' at ' + s + ' with ' + JSON.stringify(obj));
-				}
-				curr = obj;
-			});
-			curr[last] = value;
-		}
-
-
+	private doLoadSettingsSync(): { contents: any; parseErrors?: string[]; } {
 		try {
 			let root = {};
 			let content = '{}';
@@ -145,7 +153,7 @@ export class UserSettings {
 
 			let contents = json.parse(content) || {};
 			for (let key in contents) {
-				setNode(root, key, contents[key]);
+				UserSettings.setNode(root, key, contents[key]);
 			}
 			return {
 				contents: root
@@ -159,7 +167,28 @@ export class UserSettings {
 		}
 	}
 
-	private doLoadKeybindings(): any {
+	private static setNode(root: any, key: string, value: any): any {
+		let segments = key.split('.');
+		let last = segments.pop();
+
+		let curr = root;
+		segments.forEach((s) => {
+			let obj = curr[s];
+			switch (typeof obj) {
+				case 'undefined':
+					obj = curr[s] = {};
+					break;
+				case 'object':
+					break;
+				default:
+					console.log('Conflicting user settings: ' + key + ' at ' + s + ' with ' + JSON.stringify(obj));
+			}
+			curr = obj;
+		});
+		curr[last] = value;
+	}
+
+	private doLoadKeybindingsSync(): any {
 		try {
 			return json.parse(fs.readFileSync(this.appKeybindingsPath).toString());
 		} catch (error) {
diff --git a/src/vs/workbench/parts/extensions/node/extensionsService.ts b/src/vs/workbench/parts/extensions/node/extensionsService.ts
index a9f88e7da6f..ebfc1657ca6 100644
--- a/src/vs/workbench/parts/extensions/node/extensionsService.ts
+++ b/src/vs/workbench/parts/extensions/node/extensionsService.ts
@@ -16,10 +16,11 @@ import { assign } from 'vs/base/common/objects';
 import { extract, buffer } from 'vs/base/node/zip';
 import { Promise, TPromise } from 'vs/base/common/winjs.base';
 import { IExtensionsService, IExtension, IExtensionManifest, IGalleryInformation } from 'vs/workbench/parts/extensions/common/extensions';
-import { download } from 'vs/base/node/request';
+import { download, getProxyAgent, getSystemProxyAgent } from 'vs/base/node/request';
 import { IWorkspaceContextService } from 'vs/workbench/services/workspace/common/contextService';
 import { Limiter } from 'vs/base/common/async';
 import Event, { Emitter } from 'vs/base/common/event';
+import { UserSettings } from 'vs/workbench/node/userSettings';
 
 function parseManifest(raw: string): TPromise<IExtensionManifest> {
 	return new Promise((c, e) => {
@@ -120,15 +121,18 @@ export class ExtensionsService implements IExtensionsService {
 		const extensionPath = path.join(this.extensionsPath, `${ extension.publisher }.${ extension.name }`);
 		const manifestPath = path.join(extensionPath, 'package.json');
 
-		return download(zipPath, { url })
-			.then(() => validate(zipPath, extension))
-			.then(manifest => { this._onInstallExtension.fire(manifest); return manifest; })
-			.then(manifest => extract(zipPath, extensionPath, { sourcePath: 'extension', overwrite: true }).then(() => manifest))
-			.then(manifest => {
-				manifest = assign({ __metadata: galleryInformation }, manifest);
-				return pfs.writeFile(manifestPath, JSON.stringify(manifest, null, '\t'));
-			})
-			.then(() => { this._onDidInstallExtension.fire(extension); return extension; });
+		return UserSettings.getValue(this.contextService, 'http.proxy').then((httpProxySettings) => {
+			const getAgent = url => httpProxySettings ? getProxyAgent(url, httpProxySettings) : getSystemProxyAgent(url);
+			return download(zipPath, { url: url, agent: getAgent(url) })
+				.then(() => validate(zipPath, extension))
+				.then(manifest => { this._onInstallExtension.fire(manifest); return manifest; })
+				.then(manifest => extract(zipPath, extensionPath, { sourcePath: 'extension', overwrite: true }).then(() => manifest))
+				.then(manifest => {
+					manifest = assign({ __metadata: galleryInformation }, manifest);
+					return pfs.writeFile(manifestPath, JSON.stringify(manifest, null, '\t'));
+				})
+				.then(() => { this._onDidInstallExtension.fire(extension); return extension; });
+		});
 	}
 
 	private installFromZip(zipPath: string): TPromise<IExtension> {