Cliffs - using custom hosts file in Windows 7-below = pleasant, wonderful experience - using custom hosts file in Windows 8.1 = unpleasant, a lot of hair pulling and teeth grinding - can any of you in the know give me the "exact steps in succession in the right way of implementing custom hosts in Windows 8.1" (what used to worked in 7 does not translate to 8.1)? - thank you!
it's the same on win7 or win8(.1), open cmd as admin and then notepad drivers\etc\hosts make your changes and press ctrl+S or save from menu, flush the dns cache using ipconfig /flushdns at admin prompt and you're done. What's the problems you have exactly?
- I am using a hosts file customized through "hostsman" so it is quite large (33mb and getting bigger) In Windows 7 and below: a. First thing I do is, DNS service DISABLED. b. replace original hosts file with hostsman's customized hosts c. browse internet and whole system is responsive, ad-free = zero complaints In Windows 8.1 a. First thing I do i, DNS service DISABLED b. replace original hosts file with hostsman's customized hosts c. browsing internet and whole system is unresponsive, albeit ad-free = computer use experience crawls to a stop Also if, still in Windows 8.1: a. First thing I make sure, DNS service AUTOMATIC b. replace original hosts file with hostsman's customized hosts c. whole system is responsive but, internet browsing takes 5 minutes and upwards to load a page = grinding teeth Again, my hosts file is quite large at 33mb+ and rising as I continue to update it with hostsman. I suppose I also need to mention that I used "optimize hosts file" in hostsman which uncluterize by putting 9 hosts in one line.
efa11 is right you can't just edit hosts file from notepad windows, wont let you save it directly and makes you save it on the desktop, the only options are: run notepad as admin like efa11 said or save in desktop and then copy to C:\windows\system32\drivers\etc
please read carefully, I wrote "open cmd as admin and then notepad drivers\etc\hosts" now you can save directly using notepad from the admin cmd but some antivirus sw or windows defender possibly prevents access to this file.
on Windows 8.1 x64 I see: out of the box it's not readonly but as someone mentioned above windows defender is protecting the hosts file
This pops notepad.exe elevated so it will save properly. Code: Function Hosts { $Editing = New-Object System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo 'Notepad.exe'; $Editing.Arguments = 'C:\Windows\System32\Drivers\etc\hosts'; $Editing.Verb = 'RunAs'; [VOID][System.Diagnostics.Process]::Start($Editing) } Hosts