Modify Hosts File on Windows

 

The hosts file is used to point a hostname to an IP address. when a domain is searched from a local system, in a DNS lookup the hosts file can help us to assign an IP address for our domain name. When we are building a site locally and to test the same we can use this hosts. Because when we have added a hostname on the hosts file the system will fetch the IP address of the hostname from the hosts file. This feature can help developers to check the website locally even without purchasing the domain name or if the domain is under propagation we can easily utilize this feature.

To modify the hosts, we need to add the domain name and the IP address which they are resolving to. For example, if we have  a domain www.example.com and it is not yet pointed, so we can add this to our local system hosts file like

xxx.xx.xx.xx www.example.com

Where the xxx.xx.xx.xx represent the IP address of the server. after you have added an entry on the hosts file, the system begins to resolve the domain to specified IP address in the hosts. After pointing the domain correctly, you need to remove the entry from the local hosts.

Let’s see the steps to add resolving IP address to hosts file.

1) Open the Notepad: The first steps for selecting the notepad are different for version less than windows 8

For Windows 10 and 8

Click/press on the Windows Key >> search for Notepad.

For windows 7 and vista

Click/press on Start >> All Programs >> Accessories.

2)Right click Notepad and select “Run as administrator” option.

3) Open the following file: c:\Windows\System32\Drivers\etc\hosts from the Notepad.

 

4) Add the IP address and hostname on to the file.

 

5) Click File >> Save to save your changes.

 

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