Windows Host File

For some reason when I change the Windows host file it doesn't do anything. It is like for some reason Windows is ignore the host file. No matter what site and IP address I add it never uses that IP to connect to the site. I made sure it wasn't just my browser cache. Even tried flushing the DNS through Ipconfig. How can I get windows to follow the host file again?

 

Have you verified the formatting in the hosts file? These are the first few lines in my hosts file.

 

I have the locale host entry of course. 127.0.0.1 localhost but anything thing I try to add after that doesn't take. I thought at first was just forgetting to remove the # so it reads the line. That wasn't it. Now I have no idea.

 

The hosts file should be named hosts (with no extension), and should be read-only. It should reside in [SIZE=-1]c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\

Typically, attempts to edit it and then save changes result in Windows trying to save the file as hosts.txt-- not what you want. You should be aware and take measures to avoid this. You should unset the read-only attribute before editing by right-clicking on the filename, and unchecking Read Only. After successfully editing the hosts file, you need to reset its attributes to read-only for security's sake.
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Would windows use a cached DNS entry before it checked the hosts file ?

Try flushing your dns cache. ipconfig /flushdns from a command prompt.

 

The host files is titled "Hosts" with no extension. Re-save only I never use Save as so it doesn't add .txt. Also cleared my DNS cache. Same issue Windows still ignores the hosts file for some reason. This is happening on 7 different computers out of the 25 we use. All of them setup exactly the same with the same updates and patches for Windows.

 

No other opinions on this one? It is completely messed.

 

If anyone has any other options. I tried stopping and starting client side dns caching which didn't fix it. So now I am completely out of ideas.

 

So, are you saying that every time you modify the hosts table, the table gets reset back to defaults?

Are these computers on a domain?

 

Just a suggestion.... Delete your Hosts file then replace it with a "good" Hosts file from one of your working computers.
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The Hosts file saves and keeps the changes we are making. However, the entries are not being loading into the DNS cache on the computer. Everytime you change the HOSTS file you should see the change when you view the dns cache So the system ignores the IP I want to connect to.