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Exchange Hosting Service
customers can can download Hosts files
here... Click here for a Hosts
file for general (non-vpn) use. Click here for a Hosts file
for VPN use. To facilitate distribution of
the files through the web site, they are offered
here renamed hosts.txt. You will need to
rename the file after you download it, to remove
the txt extension. To use the file on your
system, the name must be simply hosts and not
hosts.txt. Right click the link and choose "save
target as..." in order to download rather than
display the file. Unless your system already
contains a customized hosts file, you can simply
replace the existing hosts file on your computer
with the one you downloaded here. The default windows hosts file
will contain the 127.0.0.1 entry for LOCALHOST
and some comments, but no other entries. If the
hosts file on your machine contains additional
entries, then you should add the lines from our
hosts file to your existing file instead of
replacing it. To install the new HOSTS file,
right click the shortcut above and choose Save
Target As... from the context menu. Save the
file in the appropriate location depending on
your operating system, as outlined below.
Under Windows 9x or ME the file
should be located in your windows folder, which
is usually: C:\windows\
Under Windows XP, 2000, or NT,
it should be located in: systemroot\system32\drivers\etc\ where systemroot may be
c:\windows or c:\winnt or another folder
depending on where Windows is installed on your
machine. Note the file is in a folder
named etc. We have received a number of support
requests from users who put the file directly in
the drivers folder. The drivers folder contains
a folder named etc. Windows is very specific
about the location of this file. If you put it
in the wrong place, the system will ignore it.
The IP addresses in the HOSTS
file are different, depending on whether you
want to connect through VPN. Here is what the HOSTS file for
non-vpn use looks like. Here is what the
HOSTS file for vpn looks like. As you can see, the
first octet of the IP addresses has been changed
from 65 to 10. This is the critical difference
that makes it work with VPN. Note the name of the HOSTS file
must be simply hosts and not hosts.sam or
hosts.txt. If you create your own hosts file, or
edit an existing hosts file using Notepad,
beware the following. Notepad will append a .txt
extension to the file in many cases. Combine
that with the default setting in Windows
Explorer which hides file extensions, and you're
likely to end up with a file named hosts.txt
instead of just hosts -- if that happens the
system will ignore the hosts.txt file and you
will not be able to resolve the server name or
ping the server. Some web browsers, Netscape for
example, may append a .html extension to the
file when you download it. Internet Explorer
might append a .txt extension. Any extension,
.sam or .txt or .html will render the file
useless. Please use Windows Explorer or
My Computer to examine the file and ensure that
it is in the proper location on your machine,
and the name is just HOSTS with no file
extension. You may need to change the View
settings on Windows Explorer to allow visibility
of file extensions. You can use Windows
Explorer or My Computer to rename the file if
necessary. Here is the procedure to verify
the file name of your new HOSTS file. If your HOSTS file is configured
for VPN access, with 192.x.x.x addresses, it will
not work for non-VPN access, which requires the
use of the 24.x.x.x addresses. If you configure your HOSTS file
for VPN access, you need to use the VPN even if
you're at a location where the internet
connection does not block port 135. In order to
connect without VPN, you would need to modify
your HOSTS file. Remember that you may need to
manually update your hosts file in response to
future network upgrades. We will notify
customers when these changes become necessary
and try to provide as much advance notice as
possible. |
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