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I have had this problem twice (on two different computers), that the localhost entry is missing from the host file. How could this have happened?

The computer was installed with Windows Vista SP1, and I know Visual Studio 2008, SQL Server 2005 Express ed. and VMWare Player were installed on the computer. Never had probs with the first two before. Can it be the VMWare install?

EDIT: On the computers with this problem, there was an IPV6 entry of

::1 localhost

EDIT2: I just installed VMWare Player on a clean machine, and it didn't touch the hosts file.

Arjan Einbu
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3 Answers3

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I have just checked my Vista Business SP1 laptop and it does indeed have a localhost entry.

I also have vmware installed so seems unlikly culprit.

Have you checked for viruses/malware fiddling with your hosts file?

Ben Gillam
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  • AFAIK there is no such problem on the computer in question... (Using Kaspersky) – Arjan Einbu May 28 '09 at 17:17
  • what happens if you uninstall, vmware put 127.0.0.1 localhost record back in and install vmware again, this should eliminate vmware from the equasion. Im assuming here you are still running ipv4 component on the NIC – Ben Gillam May 29 '09 at 06:32
  • ipv4 is running (side-by-side with ipv6). – Arjan Einbu May 29 '09 at 10:23
  • Installing VMWare Player on a clean machine today didn't affect the hosts file. (So that means VMWare is in the clear...) – Arjan Einbu May 29 '09 at 10:27
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In my file c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts it has only one entry for localhost

::1          localhost

They don't use the 127.0.0.1 any more, as ::1 is the IPv6 representation.

What is the entirety of your hosts file, without the localhost? ie, what do you see?

Dave

user4767
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  • That one is in there. (I had no problems putting the 127.0.0.1 in there as well, also pointing to localhost, so they're not mutually exclusive...) – Arjan Einbu May 28 '09 at 17:12
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Do you have the ability to check before/after the VMWare install? Are you sure a Vista install includes localhost in the hosts file (I'm not sure on that one).

Dave Drager
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