How to Find and Edit Your Mac Hosts File

The Mac host file is used for several things. But it is especially crucial if you wish to override your Domain Name System (DNS) and map to a new Internet Protocol (IP) address. In that case, you need to find and open this file.

It can be completed quickly and easily. All that needs to be done is know which application to open and what commands to type. When you make changes and updates to the host file, your Mac device will then be able to resolve domain names to IP addresses.

This article describes the purpose and nature of the Mac hosts file. Here are the four easy steps to locate and edit it. Now is the moment to begin!

Know All About the Mac Hosts File

You can locate the website with the nameservers’ DNS assistance. Your URL gets converted into an IP address that the server can understand by this DNS.

A host file is an operating system file that associates hostnames with IP addresses, for those who are unaware. We will talk about changing the hosts file on Mac OS in this guide. In order to verify how the new website is coming together, web developers make changes to the file.

Moving your website to a new server is a good occasion to make changes to the hosts file. Thus, we have provided these instructions for manually editing the hosts file in Mac OS. To test the website and make sure all features are working properly, use the Mac hosts file.

Testing like this is required prior to migration. To locate and edit the Mac OS hosts file, follow the instructions listed below.

Steps to Find and Edit Your Mac Hosts File

1. Open Terminal Application

First, open the Terminal application from the Finder Menu. In this menu, go to Utilities. You will find plenty of applications but navigate to the Terminal application.

Alternatively, Press F4 to open a launcher and type terminal to navigate to Terminal. It’s a shortcut method to reach that application.

2. Access Your /etc/hosts Folder

After opening the Terminal application, navigate to hosts file. You will find it in the /etc/hosts folder. However, the text editor access is enabled. We will consider the example of the Nano text editor for this article.

Execute the following command in the Terminal application. With this, you can install the updated Nano program version.

sudo nano /etc/hosts

Next, type the administrator password and press Enter to proceed further.

3. Begin Editing Your Mac Hosts File

After executing the above command, the Nano text editor will appear. Here is the expected screenshot.

Further steps will depend on what activities will you do with the hosts file. We assume you are trying to add a new domain name.

Using your arrow keys, you can navigate to the bottom of the file. You will then need to add the IP address of the domain you wish to add on a new line:

Our new domain name is “123.123.123.123” as you can see in the screenshot above. If you’re adding something, you’ll need to replace “mydomain.com” and “mydomain.”.

You should also add a line for each entry. The following format should be used for multiple entries:
SERVER_IP_ADDRESS domain.com
SERVER_IP_ADDRESS www.domain.com

Using your keyboard, you can delete the line(s) you’ve added if you want to cancel the changes you’re making. At the bottom of the editor window is a list of key menu options.

Besides adding IP addresses, you can also block them to prevent your device from pointing to them. “127.0.0.1” can be used for that.

After you’re done, press Ctrl + O and Enter/Return to overwrite the existing file. Ctrl + X will exit the program.

4. Remove Your DNS Cache

When your Mac hosts file has been edited, but your changes aren’t reflected, the problem may be with your DNS cache. When you finish editing a file, flushing your cache is a good idea.

The process of flushing your cache removes saved IP records. The updated IP address will be reflected in your browser as a result of this process.

Enter the following command into the Terminal application to update your browser DNS records:
sudo killall -HUP mDNSResponder

In this step, you will ensure that your changes will appear in your browser as soon as possible. Your Mac hosts file has now been edited successfully!

Conclusion

Moving to a new server might be difficult. All customers of hostvento are eligible for free website migration. while executing technical migrations and testing new websites. It is possible that many users do not have it. So, either follow this guide or get in touch with our techies by phone, email, or chat at any moment.

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