MacOS – /etc/hosts will not update/refresh at all

dnshostsmacos

I add to my /etc/hosts file this :

127.0.0.1 youtube.com

Save the file. Flush everything with :

dscacheutil -flushcache; sudo killall -HUP mDNSResponder

Reboot my computer 30 times.

Then I run:

dscacheutil -q host -a name youtube.com

And I get :

name: youtube.com
ip_address: 216.58.220.46

Clear my cache completely since the beginning of time in any browser, go to : youtube.com, and I get youtube.com, not my localhost.

I'm using OS X 10.10.5, Yosemite.

Best Answer

Check your hosts file, because probably it's malformed. It should look similar to this one:

##
# Host Database
#
# localhost is used to configure the loopback interface
# when the system is booting.  Do not change this entry.
##
127.0.0.1       localhost
127.0.0.1       youtube.com
127.0.0.1       www.youtube.com
255.255.255.255 broadcasthost
::1             localhost
 

Opening the file with sudo nano /etc/hosts it should have a trailing empty line. All entries for 127.0.0.1 should be added above the broadcasthost. The space between IP-address and hostname should be one tab: ⇥.

After writing the file to disk with nano, the changes should take effect immediately (usually without executing any dnscacheutil or killall commands). Check this with ping youtube.com.

Google Chrome is (probably) the only app which doesn't adhere properly (as a test in a VM revealed).

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