What are Virtual Hosts?įrom the Apache Virtual Host documentation: In the same amount of steps (two), you can adopt a more manageable configuration. Furthermore, Apache configurations often get reset when upgrading Mac OS X. To mountaindogmedia's point, this becomes difficult to manage. Over the years, I have created many virtual hosts. You need to edit the Apache configuration to include this file and enable virtual hosts. In fact, this is the default configuration for many servers.īy default, the Apache Virtual Host configuration on Mac OS X is located in a single file: /etc/apache2/extra/nf. Indeed, mountaindogmedia, this is an easier way. I think it would be easier to manage host files and changes. Jason, have you tried a modified Include statement for virtual hosts to map a directory? So instead of /etc/apache2/extra/nf as indicated, one would use /etc/apache2/extra/vhosts/*.conf and then just create a nf for the first virtual host, and then add/edit/delete vhost files as needed. Regardless, you can perform the steps on all the best Macs, including the 2022 MacBook Air.Mountaindogmedia left the following comment on my post for installing Apache, PHP, and MySQL on Mac OS X: If you're not a developer, it's probably not something you need to do. These steps are for developers who need to tweak the Mac Hosts file. Enter your Administrative password when prompted (that's the password used by the main user to unlock their Mac).Click Replace when asked whether you want to replace the file.If you don't have the folder open in finder anymore, follow steps one through five to reopen it. Drag this same Hosts file from your desktop back into the same folder.

Paste the following into the same file: # Host Database# localhost is used to configure the loopback interface# when the system is booting.Open the Hosts file from your desktop.Drag the Hosts file from the Finder window onto your desktop.Enter /private/etc/hosts into the search field.Make sure Finder is selected on your Mac.When you're ready to undo your changes and restore where your Mac's Hosts file routes to, you can do so by replacing the current host file with a new set of terms. Don't forget you've modified the Hosts file, because at some point you may need to undo the changes you've made in order to keep your Mac working right.

Mac os host file location