If you want to check how a website looks **before changing the domain's DNS**, you can edit the Windows `hosts` file. This forces your computer to resolve the domain to the IP of the server where you are building the site (or any IP you want).

## Step by step

1. Open the **Command Prompt as administrator**.

![Opening the Command Prompt as administrator](/api/help/media/840df919-13f9-4b90-aec7-f9f3d6f69f9e)

2. Run the following command:

```
start notepad "C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc\hosts" -h
```

3. Notepad will open with the `hosts` file. Add the IP and the domain you want to force. We recommend adding the domain both **with and without www**:

```
5.134.119.90 mywebsite.com
5.134.119.90 www.mywebsite.com
```

![hosts file edited with the IP and domain](/api/help/media/6d140366-9bb3-46bb-9f2f-6fc97901de06)

4. Save the file. From that moment on, visiting the domain from your computer will load the content served by the IP you configured. You can verify it by running a `ping`:

![Verifying the configured IP with ping](/api/help/media/3cf2a134-ec4e-426e-b923-e5f010d0b5a8)

:::tip
Once you finish testing, remember to **remove the lines you added** from the `hosts` file so the domain resolves through its real DNS again.
:::