Hi all, I am unable to edit the hosts file on Windows Vista Ultimate 32 bit. I have tried i) Running notepad as Administrator ii) Copying Hosts file to desktop, changing it and then copying it back to %systemroot%\system32\drivers\etc iii) changing ownership of hosts file from SYSTEM to my username (which is a member of Administrators group) iv) There was a READ ONLY attribute on etc folder that i tried to change using both explorer and command prompt (attrib -r etc). The command runs successfully but the ReadOnly check mark never goes away. Its like I am unable to change readonly attribute on this folder v) Disabled and actually terminated all anti virus and anti spyware. vi) Activated the built in administrator account using net user vii) Tried this registry modification http://support.microsoft.com/kb/923947 All of the above techniques yielded no results and I still get this silly error message: Cannot create the C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts file. Make sure that the path and file name are correct. This is becoming very frustrating now and dont know what to do or look at next. Thanks, Dave

Hi, Try to boot into Safe Mode. Open %systemroot%\system32\drivers\etc folder, right-click hosts file, choose Properties, on General tab, uncheck Read-only, click OK. Try to edit hosts directly. Thanks. This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.