Windows – My Hosts file broke: Ping request could not find host test

hosts-filepingwindows xp

Here's my hosts(with a single entry):

127.0.0.1 test

But it's not working any more:

C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator>ping test
Ping request could not find host test. Please check the name and try again.

Why?

UPDATE

It stops working ever since I used openvpn

UPDATE2

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Best Answer

I had a similar problem trying to ping a machine across our VPN

I made two identical entries, each on a separate line, and that made it work

Related Solutions

Windows redirect traffic to different DNS name not fixed IP address (hosts file equivalent)

Third solution

beside setting up a dns-server and injecting a hook into gethostbyname:

Register a script as a service which periodically resolves domainB.com and modifies the entry of domainA.com in the /etc/hosts file. Since most dns entries does not change very often, it is sufficient to run the script on startup or once a day.

I am using such a script to update the domain-blocklist on my home computers.

Macos – Hosts file on Mountain Lion stopped working suddenly

DNS resolution in OS X went haywire in the update from Snow Leopard to Lion. After a clean install everything should work properly, but if you have gone the update route, things might be haywire.

Option 1: IPv6 addressing

Many websites and ISP's support IPv6 if IPv4 is unreachable. Put the definitions in the beginning of your /etc/hosts like this:

# Block Facebook IPv4
127.0.0.1   www.facebook.com
127.0.0.1   facebook.com

# Block Facebook IPv6
fe80::1%lo0 www.facebook.com
fe80::1%lo0 facebook.com

Option 2: Use DNSMasq

If the previous advice fails, you can install DNSMasq.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Windows redirect traffic to different DNS name not fixed IP address (hosts file equivalent)

Macos – Hosts file on Mountain Lion stopped working suddenly

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