Remove hosts file windows

Also, each hosts file only worked for the computer it was on, and keeping them in sync with the changes in hostnames and IP addresses became a huge pain. For example, imagine that you have two computers, A and B. Their hosts files contain this mapping for google. So everyone on computer B is stuck without Google until someone updates the hosts file. When that person does update the hosts file, they add another entry to handle Google with the www subdomain.

Now everyone on computer B is taken to the correct website whether they visit google. And everyone on computer A can only visit google. If you're thinking that someone should have just made a central repository to map all IP addresses with all hostnames, that's exactly what happened. Early on, a central hosts file was manually maintained and shared by the Stanford Research Institute. This system lead to the invention of domains and top level domains like.

In the end, the humble hosts file and innovators like Elizabeth J. Feinler lead to the invention of the Domain Name System still in use today. First, open Notepad as an administrator by pressing the Windows key, typing in "notepad", and clicking "Run as administrator":.

You won't be able to see any files in this directory because they aren't text documents. To change the file type, click on the dropdown in the bottom right of the Open menu and click on "All Files":. Note that everything is commented out with characters, meaning that nothing is actually being read from the hosts file. Modern versions of Windows include a sort of DNS system already, so if you visit localhost it'll automatically redirect you to If you're doing some local development and are having problems with localhost, you can just remove the comments from your hosts file:.

Then, open PowerShell by pressing the Windows key, searching for "powershell", and clicking "Run as Administrator":. After that, you should be able to visit localhost in your browser and see whatever you're hacking on. If you're still having issues, try closing your browser completely, then open a new browser window and try again. Even though hosts files have fallen out of favor with newer systems like DNS, they still work for legacy reasons.

And hackers have definitely taken advantage of this in the past. What they would do is point a common website like google. This IP address could serve a site that looks just like Google's, but is actually trying to steal your sensitive information. While this was a problem in the past, most security software like the Windows Security Suite can recognize and fix problems with the hosts file automatically.

That said, if you open up your hosts file and see a lot of strange entries, then you may want to revert to the default Windows hosts file. Just copy and paste the default hosts file from earlier in the article into your hosts file and save. Note that some third-party security software uses the hosts file to block dangerous websites. If that's the case, no worries — your security software should add all those entries back to your hosts file. Close Notepad. To do this, follow these steps: Swipe in from the right edge of the screen, tap Search , type run, and then tap the Run icon.

Select the Hosts file, and rename it "Hosts. Need more help? Expand your skills. Get new features first. Was this information helpful? Yes No. Thank you! Any more feedback? The more you tell us the more we can help. Can you help us improve? Resolved my issue. Clear instructions. Easy to follow. No jargon. Pictures helped. Didn't match my screen. Incorrect instructions. Hosts file Windows 10 is stored in a plain text file in the Windows system folder that can be edited for various use cases.

This operation involves 2 entries and each entry contains the IP address that you want the site to resolve and a version of an Internet address. How to edit hosts file Windows 10? To edit the hosts file in Windows successfully, you can follow the steps below:.

Step 1. Type notepad in the Windows search box, and then right-click the Notepad app and select Run as administrator. Step 2. In the Notepad window, click on File and select Open from the context menu. Step 3. In the File name field, paste the following path on it and click on the Open button. Step 4. Now, you can edit the hosts file in the Notepad.