Be careful deleting the old Hosts File! You may end up accidentally deleting your new one and losing your edits! Make sure to scan your computer and remove the bad program either before or after doing this. You Might Also Like How to. How to. About This Article. Written by:. Nicole Levine, MFA. Co-authors: 5. Updated: June 3, Categories: Windows. Article Summary X 1. Thanks to all authors for creating a page that has been read 40, times. Is this article up to date? Cookies make wikiHow better.

By continuing to use our site, you agree to our cookie policy. Featured Articles How to. Trending Articles How to. New Pages. Watch Articles How to. By signing up you are agreeing to receive emails according to our privacy policy. If that’s the case, no worries — your security software should add all those entries back to your hosts file. We’ll go over how this works in the next section. Don’t want friends or family to visit certain websites on your computer?

Or are you like me and get distracted by all the cat photos on the internet? Also, close the browser windows that are open and reopen them. The one downside is that this only works on one device — you could just reach for your phone and browse Reddit on that instead. Still, it’s a neat way to create some friction on your work computer.

This leads nicely into the last trick, which is to use the hosts file to make your life a little bit easier. If you spend a lot of time adjusting your router’s settings, or you have a cool project running on a Raspberry Pi , you’ll know that typing in a long IP address is a drag.

Instead, you can use the hosts file to make connecting to other devices on your local network much faster. For example, if your router is at Otherwise your browser might not recognize.

Fortunately there are a whole lot of valid TLDs nowadays. Again, the one downside to this method is that it only works on once device. You’d have to update the hosts files on your other devices to enable the same shortcuts.

And that should be just about everything you need to know about the hosts file on Windows There are a variety available, but both Windows 10 and 11 come with Notepad. Avoid using a word processor — the differences between Notepad and a word processor like Wordpad can sometimes cause problems. On the right-hand side, click the small downward-facing arrow to reveal more options. Then, click the hosts file and hit open. Once the hosts file is open, you can start adding lines to block websites.

The lines that go into the hosts file can be broken up into three basic components, each separated by at least one space. If there is, it means Notepad does not have administrative access, and that you need to close Notepad and run it as administrator. There are two addresses, There are significant differences between Rarely, a program running on your PC might have problems if you use That means the browser ignores the hosts file entirely and uses a secured DNS server specified by the browser instead, so any addresses you attempt to block using the hosts file will be accessible.

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Best MP3 Players. How satisfied are you with this reply? Thanks for your feedback, it helps us improve the site. In reply to A. User’s post on November 3, Yeah, sorry, I forgot to mention that. Yes, I’m using Notepad with administrative privileges. The error I’m getting does not seem to be related with that. In reply to rnpereira’s post on November 3, We look forward to your response. User’s post on November 9, Helo, Jarius. Yes the problem persist Thanks,.

In reply to rnpereira’s post on November 10, Can you check if you can edit host file while in Safe mode? User’s post on November 22, This is happenIng to me as well. Tried every step except booting to a usb operating system and using that os to modify hosts. I am fully aware of how to modify in previous windows versions.

How to Edit the Hosts File on Windows: 10 Steps (with Pictures)

Was this reply helpful? Yes No. Sorry this didn’t help. Thanks for your feedback. My user profile is an Admin account and choose ‘Run as Administrator’, but it didn’t work.

Fortunately I was able to edit using another method. I downloaded a program called ‘Unlocker’ and with it, I was able to move the host file to my USB Flash Drive and there I could edit without problems and return it to the etc folder. The interesting thing is that after that, I was able to edit the file normally without using the unlocker. Choose where you want to search below Search Search the Community. Search the community and support articles Windows Windows 10 Search Community member.

I can’t edit the hosts file at all. I tried nearly all the solutions I found here, on Youtube and other sites and none of them worked, including the one on notepad and using cmd. I literally can’t do anything with the file. I can’t copy, I can’t move to another location, I can’t open and I can’t edit. It looks like the file is ‘locked’ for some reason.

This thread is locked. You can follow the question or vote as helpful, but you cannot reply to this thread. I have the same question 0. Report abuse. Details required :. Cancel Submit. DaveM Independent Advisor. The page appears to be providing accurate, safe information. Watch out for ads on the site that may advertise products frequently classified as a PUP Potentially Unwanted Products.

Thoroughly research any product advertised on the site before you decide to download and install it. How satisfied are you with this reply? Thanks for your feedback, it helps us improve the site. In reply to DaveM’s post on April 17, I’ve tried using this program but it didn’t work.

Acess denied. Hi Eduardo, if you right click that program and choose ‘Run as Administrator’ does that still get blocked? Is your user profile an Admin account? My user profile is an Admin account and choose ‘Run as Administrator’, but it didn’t work Fortunately I was able to edit using another method. This site in other languages x.

Cant edit hosts file windows 10 free download

 
replace.me › en-us › windows › forum › all › unable-to-edit-h. In your Notepad, Click File > Open and search for the following file: c:\Windows\System32\Drivers\etc\hosts; You can edit the changes as normal; Click File >.

Cant edit hosts file windows 10 free download

Report abuse. Details required :. Cancel Submit. DaveM Independent Advisor. The page appears to be providing accurate, safe information. I downloaded a program called ‘Unlocker’ and with it, I was able to move the host file to my USB Flash Drive and there I could edit without problems and return it to the etc folder. The interesting thing is that after that, I was able to edit the file normally without using the unlocker.

Choose where you want to search below Search Search the Community. Search the community and support articles Windows Windows 10 Search Community member.

I can’t edit the hosts file at all. I tried nearly all the solutions I found here, on Youtube and other sites and none of them worked, including the one on notepad and using cmd. I literally can’t do anything with the file. I can’t copy, I can’t move to another location, I can’t open and I can’t edit. Note: Before going to the procedure, make sure that you are the administrator of your that system you want to modify the hosts file.

CMD or command prompt is still the best choice to modify hosts file in Windows operating system. Follow the screenshot for better understanding. It will open the Hosts file in Notepad program with Administrator access. Now you are done! Average 4. Good 5. Major Geeks Special Offer:. For example, the Microsoft Store might be blocked, and you don’t know why. This file contains the mappings of IP addresses to host names. Each entry should be kept on an individual line. The IP address should be placed in the first column followed by the corresponding host name.