Windows – How to Add Localhost Entry with Port Number to Hosts File

dnshosts-fileip addresslocalhostwindows 7

I have set up a local site under IIS 7.5 under port 900. to access it I should type localhost:900 in the address bar.
I'm a little bit familiar with the System32\Drivers\etc\hosts file and I know I can define my custom name with IP adderss there. For example I can add: 127.0.0.1 MyLocalSite and whenever I type in http://MyLocalSite in the browser, The DNS resolves its IP as 127.0.0.1.
Is there anyway that I can specify port number in that file as well? (e.g. 127.0.0.1:900 MySecondSite and the DNS resolves it correctly) I tried 127.0.0.1:900 and 127.0.0.1::900 with no luck.

Best Answer

Kamyar, Sadly, the hosts file only associates a name to an IP address. Adding a port would make the syntax invalid.

Check out Windows HOSTS file

Related Solutions

Windows – Why in Windows ‘localhost’ connection is reset while 127.0.0.1 and other specified in ‘hosts’ file work

This is because your localhost passes your network adapter (note the LMHOSTS in it's advanced configuration, this does in essence turn processing of the HOSTS file on and off) and your network adapter could do something extra with it. If you visit 127.0.0.1 then it directly goes to the loopback adapter, as for the other entries your network adapter might just choose to forward them instead of handling them (like the localhost entry). You can get routing information using route PRINT in a command prompt:

IPv4 Route Table
===========================================================================
Active Routes:
Network Destination        Netmask          Gateway       Interface  Metric
          0.0.0.0          0.0.0.0      192.168.1.1    192.168.1.100    281 <--
        127.0.0.0        255.0.0.0         On-link         127.0.0.1    306 <==
        127.0.0.1  255.255.255.255         On-link         127.0.0.1    306 <==
  127.255.255.255  255.255.255.255         On-link         127.0.0.1    306 <==
      192.168.1.0    255.255.255.0         On-link     192.168.1.100    281
    192.168.1.100  255.255.255.255         On-link     192.168.1.100    281
    192.168.1.255  255.255.255.255         On-link     192.168.1.100    281
     192.168.11.0    255.255.255.0         On-link      192.168.11.1    276
     192.168.11.1  255.255.255.255         On-link      192.168.11.1    276
   192.168.11.255  255.255.255.255         On-link      192.168.11.1    276
     192.168.40.0    255.255.255.0         On-link      192.168.40.1    276
     192.168.40.1  255.255.255.255         On-link      192.168.40.1    276
   192.168.40.255  255.255.255.255         On-link      192.168.40.1    276
        224.0.0.0        240.0.0.0         On-link         127.0.0.1    306
        224.0.0.0        240.0.0.0         On-link      192.168.40.1    276
        224.0.0.0        240.0.0.0         On-link      192.168.11.1    276
        224.0.0.0        240.0.0.0         On-link     192.168.1.100    281
  255.255.255.255  255.255.255.255         On-link         127.0.0.1    306
  255.255.255.255  255.255.255.255         On-link      192.168.40.1    276
  255.255.255.255  255.255.255.255         On-link      192.168.11.1    276
  255.255.255.255  255.255.255.255         On-link     192.168.1.100    281

Note where I set the <== at the end, these ensure that the 127.0.0.1 interface is used when you visit a loopback address.

Note where I set the <-- at the end and 0.0.0.0 means any IP, these ensure that things like localhost, any other thing you forward in HOSTS and most IPs you visit are handled by your network adapter which uses the 192.168.1.100 interface and the 192.168.1.1 gateway.

A higher metric means more priority, so this is why <== has preference over <--.

More information can be found on subnetworks to understand the netmasks.

As for your problem:

Check your IIS/Apache configuration.
Disable your anti virus and firewall.
Reset your network adapter to see if it solves the problem.
Use the Troubleshoot Problems option to see if it resolves something.
Use ipconfig /flushdns to clear DNS resolution.
See what you get for ping localhost.
Try to disable IPv6.
Update the drivers for your network adapter.

Report back if you still have the problem, you might want to capture a Wireshark trace.

Windows – How to access localhost with a port on a Virtual PC

When you install a Virtual PC instance, it's like a completely new computer, localhost will refer to two different machines depending on if you're resolving it on the host (your physical computer) or the guest (the Virtual PC instance).

You don't have to put anything into your hosts file to make your computer name known to the host. The host knows its own name.

You can put the name of your host into the hosts file on the guest, but as long as they're sharing the same network, this shouldn't be required (due to Windows' peer-to-peer name resolution), but it shouldn't hurt either.

The port used by your HTTPD (IIS) will always be 80. You just have to access your host through it's network IP address (like 192.168.1.10, not 127.0.0.1).

In case you want to use a non-standard HTTP port (like 900), it is possible that you have to manually open that port in the Windows Firewall for your guest to be able to connect to it.

The process is outlined in this answers, but here it is adjusted for your case:

Go to the Control Panel and launch Windows Firewall.

Go to Advanced Settings

Select Inbound Rules in the left pane

Select New Rule in the right pane

In the New Inbound Rule Wizard, select Port as Rule Type, then click on Next

Select TCP and put 900 (and any other ports you want to open) in Specific local ports, then click on Next

Select Allow the connection, then click on Next

Select the network location where the rule should apply (select them all if you're not sure), then click on Next

Give a name and an optional description

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Windows – Why in Windows ‘localhost’ connection is reset while 127.0.0.1 and other specified in ‘hosts’ file work

Windows – How to access localhost with a port on a Virtual PC

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