If you're moving an existing website to PaduHost, it's worth checking that everything works before you switch your domain over. You can do this by editing the hosts file on your computer. This tells only your computer to load your domain from PaduHost, while everyone else still sees your current website.

Before you start

You'll need your server's IP address from your welcome email. The line you add to your hosts file looks like this, with your own IP address and domain:

203.0.113.10 yourdomain.com www.yourdomain.com

Windows

1. Click Start, type Notepad, right-click it and choose Run as administrator.
2. In Notepad, go to File > Open and open C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts. If you can't see the file, change the file type from Text Documents to All Files.
3. Add your line at the bottom of the file and save it.
4. Open Command Prompt and run ipconfig /flushdns.

macOS

1. Open Terminal (in Applications > Utilities).
2. Run sudo nano /etc/hosts and enter your Mac password when asked.
3. Add your line at the bottom of the file.
4. Press Control + O and then Enter to save, then Control + X to exit.
5. Run sudo dscacheutil -flushcache; sudo killall -HUP mDNSResponder.

Checking your website

Open a private browser window and visit your domain. You're now seeing the copy on PaduHost.

You may see a security warning. This is expected, because your free SSL certificate can only be issued after your domain points to us. For this check only, you can continue past the warning or visit the http:// address instead.

Remember to remove the line from your hosts file when you've finished testing. Otherwise your computer will keep ignoring your domain's real DNS settings, which can be confusing later on.