# Refresh the Windows host file without rebooting?

**URL:** <https://forum.kirupa.com/t/refresh-the-windows-host-file-without-rebooting/246888>\
**Category:** random\
**Created:** [December 15, 2007, 11:03pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/refresh-the-windows-host-file-without-rebooting/246888 "2007-12-15T23:03:18Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![lorren\_biffin](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex011/user_avatar/forum.kirupa.com/lorren_biffin/32/2726_2.png) [@lorren\_biffin](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/lorren_biffin)\
**Post date:** [December 15, 2007, 11:03pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/refresh-the-windows-host-file-without-rebooting/246888/1 "2007-12-15T23:03:18Z")

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I’m constantly making new virtual hosts on my machine. I try to have one for every project I’ve got going on at any given time. The problem with this is that I’m constantly changing the Windows XP host file…which is a pain because then I have to reboot before the changes become active.

My question is this: Is there another way to refresh the hosts file without rebooting entirely? Maybe a utility out there somewhere, a built in app or a command line option?