Unable to build Spring Tool Suite Quick Start

Question

Having loaded the Consuming REST Quick Start without any apparent problem, I am unable to build the project.

Following is the error message from Spring Tool Suite:

[INFO] Scanning for projects...
[INFO] Downloading: http://repo.spring.io/libs-release/org/springframework/boot/spring-boot-starter-parent/1.1.8.RELEASE/spring-boot-starter-parent-1.1.8.RELEASE.pom
[INFO] Downloading: http://central.maven.org/maven2/org/springframework/boot/spring-boot-starter-parent/1.1.8.RELEASE/spring-boot-starter-parent-1.1.8.RELEASE.pom
[ERROR] The build could not read 1 project -> [Help 1]
[ERROR]   
[ERROR]   The project org.springframework:gs-consuming-rest:0.1.0 (/Users/matthewbrown/Documents/workspace/gs-consuming-rest-initial/pom.xml) has 1 error
[ERROR]     Non-resolvable parent POM: Could not transfer artifact org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-starter-parent:pom:1.1.8.RELEASE from/to spring-releases (http://repo.spring.io/libs-release): connect timed out and 'parent.relativePath' points at wrong local POM @ line 10, column 13 -> [Help 2]
[ERROR] 
[ERROR] To see the full stack trace of the errors, re-run Maven with the -e switch.
[ERROR] Re-run Maven using the -X switch to enable full debug logging.
[ERROR] 
[ERROR] For more information about the errors and possible solutions, please read the following articles:
[ERROR] [Help 1] http://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/MAVEN/ProjectBuildingException
[ERROR] [Help 2] http://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/MAVEN/UnresolvableModelException

Answer 1

The issue turned out to be the ~/.m2/settings.xml file. It has a set of proxies defined for use on certain office networks at my client. Disabling these proxies allows Spring Tool Suite to work again.

Now for how to make the swap between on and off network more easily attained...