“Missing hosts entry” error prevent an installed WordPress from fresh start, as these files are important for creation of local WP environment.

Local is program developed by Flywheel and WP Engine hosting providers, is among of best tools for assisting WordPress developers for developing themes or plugins.

The program is very popular among WordPress developers, but in some cases, it triggers “Missing hosts” error, and when you try to fix it with recommended solution its prompt “Could not update hosts file” error.

In this article, I’m going to share with you the main cause and how to solve it with simple guide that you should follow.

Causes:

The error is caused by one reason, which is security program like Kaspersky or other. Security software obviously prevent critical folder of operating system from modified, as it flagged it as malicious activity. The security plugin force default permission of these folders and files to be read-only, thus make it impossible to be altered by any means.

Solution:

You can fix this error by one option; you should pause security software for few minutes then click “fix it” recommended solution by the plugin then later resumes it after modification. Doing this method will solve the problem by 100%.