Using port number in Windows host file - windows

Question

After installing TeamViewer, I have changed the wampserver port to 8080, so the address is http://localhost:8080.
For the host file located at C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc\, I have also made the change as below
BEFORE
127.0.0.1 www.example.com
AFTER
127.0.0.1:8080 www.example.com
When I access www.example.com, it doesn't redirect to my wampserver, how can I fix it?

Answer 1

I managed to achieve this by using Windows included Networking tool netsh.
As Mat points out : The hosts file is for host name resolution only, so a combination of the two did the trick for me.
Example
Overview
example.app:80
| <--Link by Hosts File
+--> 127.65.43.21:80
| <--Link by netsh Utility
+--> localhost:8081
Actions
Started my server on localhost:8081
Added my "local DNS" in the hosts file as a new line
127.65.43.21 example.app
Any free address in the network 127.0.0.0/8 (127.x.x.x) can be used.
Note: I am assuming 127.65.43.21:80 is not occupied by another service.
You can check with netstat -a -n -p TCP | grep "LISTENING"
added the following network configuration with netsh command utility
netsh interface portproxy add v4tov4 listenport=80 listenaddress=127.65.43.21 connectport=8081 connectaddress=127.0.0.1
I can now access the server at http://example.app
Notes:
- These commands/file modifications need to be executed with Admin rights
- netsh portproxy needs ipv6 libraries even only to use v4tov4, typically they will also be included by default, otherwise install them using the following command: netsh interface ipv6 install
You can see the entry you have added with the command:
netsh interface portproxy show v4tov4
You can remove the entry with the following command:
netsh interface portproxy delete v4tov4 listenport=80 listenaddress=127.65.43.21
Links to Resources:
Using Netsh
Netsh commands for Interface IP
Netsh commands for Interface Portproxy
Windows Port Forwarding Example

Answer 2

The hosts file is for host name resolution only (on Windows as well as on Unix-like systems). You cannot put port numbers in there, and there is no way to do what you want with generic OS-level configuration - the browser is what selects the port to choose.
So use bookmarks or something like that.
(Some firewall/routing software might allow outbound port redirection, but that doesn't really sound like an appealing option for this.)

Answer 3

What you want can be achieved by modifying the hosts file through Fiddler 2 application.
Follow these steps:
Install Fiddler2
Navigate to Fiddler2 menu:- Tools > HOSTS.. (Click to select)
Add a line like this:-
localhost:8080 www.mydomainname.com
Save the file & then checkout www.mydomainname.com in browser.

Answer 4

Fiddler2 -> Rules -> Custom Rules
then find function OnBeforeRequest on put in the next script at the end:
if (oSession.HostnameIs("mysite.com")){
oSession.host="localhost:39901";
oSession.hostname="mysite.com";
}

Answer 5

The simplest way is using Ergo as your reverse proxy:
https://github.com/cristianoliveira/ergo
You set your services and its IP:PORT and ergo routes it for you :).
You can achieve the same using nginx or apache but you will need to configure them.

Answer 6

This doesn't give the requested result exactly, however, for what I was doing, I was not fussed with adding the port into the URL within a browser.
I added the domain name to the hosts file
127.0.0.1 example.com
Ran my HTTP server from the domain name on port 8080
php -S example.com:8080
Then accessed the website through port 8080
http://example.com:8080
Just wanted to share in case anyone else is in a similar situation.

Answer 7

If what is happening is that you have another server running on localhost and you want to give this new server a different local hostname like
http://teamviewer/
I think that what you are actually looking for is Virtual Hosts functionality. I use Apache so I do not know how other web daemons support this. Maybe it is called Alias. Here is the Apache documentation:
Apache Virtual Hosts examples

Answer 8

-You can use any free address in the network 127.0.0.0/8 , in my case needed this for python flask and this is what I have done :
add this line in the hosts file (you can find it is windows under : C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc ) :
127.0.0.5 flask.dev
Make sure the port is the default port "80" in my case this is what in the python flask: app.run("127.0.0.5","80")
now run your code and browse flask.dev

Answer 9

Using netsh with connectaddress=127.0.0.1 did not work for me.
Despite looking everywhere on the internet I could not find the solution which solved this for me, which was to use connectaddress=127.x.x.x (i.e. any 127. ipv4 address, just not 127.0.0.1) as this appears to link back to localhost just the same but without the restriction, so that the loopback works in netsh.

Answer 10

You need NGNIX or Apache HTTP server as a proxy server for forwarding http requests to appropriate application -> which listens particular port (or do it with CNAME which provides Hosting company). It is most powerful solution and this is just a really easy way to keep adding new subdomains, or to add new domains automatically when DNS records are pointed at the server.
Apache era call it Virtual host ->
httpd.apache.org/docs/trunk/vhosts/examples.html
NGINX -> Server Block
https://www.nginx.com/resources/wiki/start/topics/examples/server_blocks/

Answer 11

Alternate way
Install Redirector
Click Edit redirects -> Create New Redirect