🔧 Title: "Unable to Update Hosts File in Local – Tried Everything (Admin, Antivirus, Reinstall, Manual Edits)"

Support
,
1

Hi everyone,

I’m facing a persistent and frustrating issue with Local by Flywheel (LocalWP) on Windows. I’m trying to run a local WordPress site, but I keep encountering the following error:

:red_exclamation_mark: Uh-oh! Could not update hosts file
Local ran into a problem when trying to update the hosts file.
Please ensure that the hosts file is not locked by anti-virus.

On the site overview in Local, I also get:

:warning: Warning! Missing hosts entry. This site may be inaccessible.

:magnifying_glass_tilted_left: Here’s What I’ve Tried So Far:

:white_check_mark: Antivirus Settings

  • I use McAfee Antivirus.
  • Real-time scanning has been turned OFF.
  • I have added the hosts file to the excluded list manually in McAfee.

:white_check_mark: Manually Edited Hosts File

  • Opened C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts in Notepad (as administrator).
  • Tried adding:

lua

CopyEdit

127.0.0.1 toolstiphub.local
  • However, Windows tries to save it as hosts.txt, and editing doesn’t reflect in Local.

:white_check_mark: Confirmed Hosts File Content

  • My current hosts file contains this line (added manually):

lua

CopyEdit

127.0.0.1 toolstiphub.local
  • The file also includes Tailscale entries (I use Tailscale on this system).

:white_check_mark: Ran a .bat File as Admin

  • Created and executed a batch file to add the entry:

bat

CopyEdit

@echo off
SETLOCAL ENABLEDELAYEDEXPANSION
set "hostfile=%SystemRoot%\System32\drivers\etc\hosts"
echo 127.0.0.1 toolstiphub.local >> "!hostfile!"
pause
  • It executed but did not solve the issue.

:white_check_mark: Checked with nslookup

  • When running:

lua

CopyEdit

nslookup toolstiphub.local

I get:

pgsql

CopyEdit

DNS request timed out.
*** Request to UnKnown timed-out

:white_check_mark: Completely Uninstalled Local

  • Uninstalled Local via Control Panel
  • Deleted the following folders:
    • %AppData%\Local
    • %AppData%\Roaming\Local
    • %LocalAppData%\Programs\Local
    • %UserProfile%\.local
  • Rebooted the system
  • Downloaded the latest version from https://localwp.com
  • Installed as administrator
  • Launched Local as administrator

Still, the issue persists.

:red_question_mark: What I Suspect:

  • The hosts file might still be locked by a background process or some Windows security feature.
  • Possibly a conflict with Tailscale DNS or network configs?
  • Windows Defender Controlled Folder Access was also disabled — no help.

:sos_button: What I Need:

Please let me know:

  1. Has anyone faced a similar issue with the hosts file being unmodifiable?
  2. Is there a permanent fix or workaround?
  3. Are there any hidden background processes or permissions that need to be reset?

Any help or advice from the community would be deeply appreciated! :folded_hands:

Thanks in advance!

2

I am waiting for the reply, so please reply to me ASAP so that I can proceed further with my task.

3

I have this same issue, along with the MySQL issue. I have done pretty much the same, with no results at all. In the meantime, I switched to develop on a Mac, which is not my main work environment and won’t work as a permanent solution.

4

After two weeks, I discovered a simple solution to my problem. I feel dumb for not thinking of this sooner. Just open IIS Manager, click on Default Website, and stop it. I hope this helps.