hosts file blocks

What to do

1. Open w0a
2. Go to the Fix page in the left menu
3. Type hosts into the search box
4. Press the button on the hosts file blocks card

What the card's answer means

After you press it, the card writes a line underneath. Which line you get decides your next step.

• "Fixed — N setting(s) put back to the Windows default." — this was the broken thing and it has been put back. If the problem continues, see below.
• "Nothing to fix — this was already at the Windows default." — these settings were never changed. Whatever you are seeing has another cause, and pressing this card again will not help.
• "Nothing to fix — this component is not installed on this PC." — the thing this card repairs is not present on this Windows. Your edition may not include it, or it may have been removed earlier.
• "Another repair is running." — only one card runs at a time, because several of them would undo each other's work. Wait for it to finish and press again.

What this card actually does

If the Store and Xbox app cannot sign in and Windows Update keeps failing while the browser works fine, removes the hosts-file lines that point Microsoft sign-in, licensing and update addresses at a dead address. Your own entries are left alone and a copy of the file is saved first.

Every repair card writes back the Windows default unconditionally; it does not depend on a backup of w0a's own existing. So it also helps if some other tool was what changed your machine.

If it did not help

If the card said it fixed something and the problem is still there, these settings were not the cause. Write to us — tell us which card you ran and what it printed; the two together are what narrows it down.