How Can I Disable My Loopback Address?

By Bray Bell

The loopback address helps test your local network interfaces.
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The loopback address is an assigned IP (Internet Protocol) number of 127.0.0.1, which is designated and reserved for the software portion of a network interface. The loopback address is not physically connected to the network and has no actual hardware assigned to it. It is primarily used by network administrators to test the functionality of a network device. This is done by "pinging" the loopback address to see if it responds. If you cannot "ping" your loopback address, no other network traffic will work either.

Step 1

Double-click on your computer C: drive, then browse to "C:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\". This folder should be the same regardless of the version of the Windows operating system you use.

Step 2

Right-click on the file "HOSTS", then left-click "Open". Because the HOSTS file does not have an extension, Windows won't know how to open it. Select "Notepad."

Step 3

Locate the following lines: "127.0.0.1 localhost" and "::1 localhost." Remove them.

Step 4

Save the HOSTS file.

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