

Open the %WinDir%\System32\Drivers\Etc folder. Or, if you are using a mouse, point to the upper-right corner of the screen, move the mouse pointer down, click Search, type Notepad, and then click Notepad. To do this, swipe in from the right edge of the screen, tap Search, type Notepad, and then tap the Notepad icon. If you are prompted to enter an administrator password, select Continue. Tap and hold or right-click the Hosts file, select Rename, and then rename the file as "Hosts.old".Ĭopy or move the Hosts file that you created in step 3 from the desktop to the %WinDir%\System32\Drivers\Etc folder.


Search for %WinDir%\System32\Drivers\Etc using Cortana, and then select the File folder icon. On the File menu, select Save as, type "hosts" in the File name box (as displayed in the following image), and then save the file to the desktop. # localhost name resolution is handle within DNS itself. # lines or following the machine name denoted by a '#' symbol. # Additionally, comments (such as these) may be inserted on individual # The IP address and the host name should be separated by at least one # be placed in the first column followed by the corresponding host name. # entry should be kept on an individual line. # This file contains the mappings of IP addresses to host names. # This is a sample HOSTS file used by Microsoft TCP/IP for Windows. # Copyright (c) 1993-2006 Microsoft Corp. To do this, search for “Notepad” using Cortana, and then tap or click the Notepad icon.Ĭopy the following text, and then paste the text into the file: To reset the Hosts file back to the default, follow these steps: To reset the Hosts file back to the default, follow these steps according to your operating system: If the Hosts file is changed from default, resetting it can help resolve some connectivity issues.

Entirely blank lines in the file are ignored. Comment lines may be included, and they are indicated by a hash character (#) in the first position of such lines. Each field is separated by white space (Tabs are often preferred for historical reasons, but spaces are also used). The Hosts file contains lines of text consisting of an IP address in the first text field followed by one or more host names. The hosts file is one of several system resources that address network nodes in a computer network and is a common part of an operating system's IP implementation. The Hosts file is used by the operating system to map human-friendly hostnames to numerical Internet Protocol (IP) addresses which identify and locate a host in an IP network. This article helps you reset the Hosts file back to the default. Windows 8 Windows 8.1 Windows 7 Windows Vista Windows XP Windows 10 More.
