How to access and edit the hosts file in Windows 11

Sun May 3 6:37 pm EDT 2026

Key points

• Run Notepad as an administrator.
• Open and edit C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts file.

How to do it

In the Start menu, search Notepad and right-click it. In the context menu, select Run as administrator.

The hosts file is located at C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc folder. Open the file using File > Open menu. Make sure you've selected All files (*.*) from drop-down list in the Open dialog box.

Add a new entry at the end of the file, for example:

# localhost name resolution is handled within DNS itself.
#	127.0.0.1       localhost
#	::1             localhost

111.222.222.111 your_domain.com

Save and exit the file.