Fix c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc not resolving hosts to ip address. Before starting make sure that you have already modified correctly your %SystemRoot%\System32\drivers\etc\hosts file Verify that the path is your registry is pointing to the correct path HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\DataBasePath The default value should be %SystemRoot%\System32\drivers\etc Check that you are resolving correctly by using the ping command, it will show the resolved ip address even if unable to ping. Don't use nslookup since it seems to ignore the hosts file by default. Run (theorically useless ... but who knows) this command to flush the nameservers ipconfig /flushdns If you are using a browser remember to clear all your cache. Verify that the hosts file have no extensions, just "hosts". Make sure that there are no special characters inside the file. If it's a system issue run sfc /scannow Another possibility is...