I Don't Have a Hosts File

What is a Hosts file?

Also:

To properly get answers to your post you should include this minimum information.

1.  Device type. ie PC, Laptop, Tablet, Surface.

2.  OS type, Home, Pro, Executive, etc

3.  Current build.  Go Settings, System. About.  XXXXXX.XXX

4.  Where is this happening on the computer,  Boot, Screen, App, etc

5.  What error are you getting if any?

Firstly do not edit the Hosts.ics file, only the hosts file, hosts.ics is managed by Windows OS

To be able to see your hosts file you have to show hidden files and system files

1. On the View tab of Windows File Explorer, check the box 'Hidden Items'

2. If you still cannot see the hosts file, click 'Options' on the view tab, in the resulting dialog, click the view tab

   In the list uncheck the option 'Hide protected Operating System Files'

Then you will be able to see the hosts file

In order to edit the file, copy it out to your desktop, edit it with Notepad, then copy it back into the same folder

(C:\Windows\System32\Drivers\etc)

Well a simple solution would be to create one:

1. Right click your desktop, choose new text file
2. Add the text at the bottom of this post to the file
3. Make whatever changes/additions you were going to make to the hosts file
4. Save the file as hosts and remove the .txt from the end of the file, so the file is just named: hosts
5. Then put the file into this folder: C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc

# Copyright (c) 1993-2009 Microsoft Corp.
#
# This is a sample HOSTS file used by Microsoft TCP/IP for Windows.
#
# This file contains the mappings of IP addresses to host names. Each
# entry should be kept on an individual line. The IP address should
# be placed in the first column followed by the corresponding host name.
# The IP address and the host name should be separated by at least one
# space.
#
# Additionally, comments (such as these) may be inserted on individual
# lines or following the machine name denoted by a '#' symbol.
#
# For example:
#
#      102.54.94.97     rhino.acme.com          # source server
#       38.25.63.10     x.acme.com              # x client host

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

I was just having the same problem. Here is what I found:

1. I have enabled showing "Hidden items" and disabled "Hide protected operating system files". This normally shows you files like the hosts file in other versions of Windows.

2. I tried browsing C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc, but could not see the hosts file.

3. I could not find any other options to make the file visible.

Here is the solution that worked for me:

1. I typed "notepad" into the start bar, right clicked it and selected "Run as administrator".

2. I went to File->Open and browsed to C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc.

3. At this point I still could NOT see the hosts file. 

4. I simply typed "hosts" into the "File name" field of the Open dialog and clicked "Open".

5. Boom, hosts file opened right up in notepad and I was able to edit it.

I really don't know what to do to make Windows show this file in File Explorer. Obviously there is some other layer of hidden files that I am not able to see with the options in File Explorer. Wonder what else is hidden this way. There is probably some registry hack to display them.