{"id":659,"date":"2021-03-23T16:48:53","date_gmt":"2021-03-23T16:48:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.register365.com\/support\/?post_type=ht_kb&#038;p=659"},"modified":"2021-04-20T17:34:51","modified_gmt":"2021-04-20T16:34:51","slug":"modifying-the-windows-hosts-file","status":"publish","type":"ht_kb","link":"https:\/\/www.register365.com\/support\/articles\/modifying-the-windows-hosts-file\/","title":{"rendered":"Modifying the Windows Hosts File"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Windows contains a file named&nbsp;<em>hosts<\/em>&nbsp;that allows you to override where your browser looks for a website. This is useful when you need to test a website on a new server before pointing the domain to that new location to make it live.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Opening Notepad<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The first step you take depends on the version of Windows that you are using.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Windows XP<\/strong><br>Nothing special is needed in XP, simply open up&nbsp;<em>Notepad<\/em>&nbsp;from your Start Menu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Windows Vista and 7<\/strong><br>Find&nbsp;<em>Notepad<\/em>&nbsp;in the Start Menu and right click it, this will present you with a set of options from which you need to select the one that says&nbsp;<em>Run as Administrator<\/em>. Once you have clicked this Notepad should launch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/kbmedia2.names.co.uk\/2b1\/fd5c905bcd8c3348ad1b35d7231ee2b1\/windows7-cmd.png\" alt=\"Windows Vista and 7 Notepad\" title=\"Windows Vista and 7 Notepad\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Windows 8 and 8.1<\/strong><br>Bring up the Metro (Start Menu) interface and find&nbsp;<em>Notepad<\/em>&nbsp;(you can type to search). Then right click the Notepad icon and select&nbsp;<em>Run as Administrator<\/em>&nbsp;from the bottom of the screen. Notepad will now start.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/kbmedia2.names.co.uk\/2b1\/fd5c905bcd8c3348ad1b35d7231ee2b1\/windows8-cmd.png\" alt=\"Windows 8 Notepad\" title=\"Windows 8 Notepad\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Editing Hosts<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Now you need to open the&nbsp;<em>hosts<\/em>&nbsp;file inside Notepad to make the required changes. This file is typically located here in&#8230;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-preformatted\">C:\\Windows\\System32\\drivers\\etc\\hosts<\/pre>\n\n\n\n<p>Normally, if you have not edited this file before, you will see a couple of existing entries that refer to localhost. This is normal and these should be left alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To preview your website, you need to enter the IP address of your new server followed by a space and then the address of the website, like so:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-preformatted\">123.123.123.123 example.org \n123.123.123.123 www.example.org<\/pre>\n\n\n\n<p>Replacing\u00a0<code>123.123.123.123<\/code>\u00a0with the real IP address of your new server and\u00a0<em>example.org<\/em>\u00a0with your domain name. Any additional domains you wish to use should be added individually on new lines at the bottom of this file.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Finished<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Save the file when you have finished making your changes and reload your web browser. You should now be able to preview your website from the location you have specified.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Windows contains a file named&nbsp;hosts&nbsp;that allows you to override where your browser looks for a website. This is useful when you need to test a website on a new server before pointing the domain to that new location to make it live. Opening Notepad The first step you take depends on the version of Windows [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"ht-kb-category":[58,57],"ht-kb-tag":[62,63,61],"class_list":["post-659","ht_kb","type-ht_kb","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","ht_kb_category-managed-servers","ht_kb_category-servers","ht_kb_tag-managed-servers","ht_kb_tag-migration","ht_kb_tag-servers"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Modifying the Windows Hosts File - Support Centre - Register365<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Windows contains a file named hosts that allows you to override where your browser looks for a website.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.register365.com\/support\/articles\/modifying-the-windows-hosts-file\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Modifying the Windows Hosts File - 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