localhost doesn't open in IE9

Question

I'm having this annoying problem that when I try to open localhost:8080 in IE9, it goes on to search the Internet for it as a keyword. It's working fine in other browsers, like Firefox and Chrome. I've also tried http://localhost:8082/ but that too doesn't work. What is going on?

Answer 1

Apparently this problem can be caused by conflicts with IIS, if you have IIS installed. There are other issues that can cause IE9 127.0.0.1 resolutions to fail as well.

The common steps offered by Microsoft to resolve this issue, or any issues where IE is unable to resolve a website, involve resetting the IE9 browser settings:

• Open Tools -> Internet Options
• Click on the "Advanced" tab.
• Click "Reset"
• Click the checkbox for "Delete personal settings"
• In the Reset Internet Explorer Settings dialog box, click "Reset".
• When changes are done, click "Close" and then restart the browser.

If after following these steps, the problem still hasn't disappeared, repeat the above steps, except instead of clicking "Reset" in the "Advanced" tab, click "Restore Advanced Settings", which is located below "Reset".

This tech guide describes the steps for resetting the advanced settings on Windows 7 for IE9.

NOTE: Resetting will reset IE to factory settings. You'll lose your existing configuration and any settings or data in IE. Judging by your love for this browser, I'm assuming there isn't any data in there that you care about. ;) However, be sure you're okay with this before following these steps

Answer 2

Try using the loopback IP instead of localhost:

http://127.0.0.1:8082/

IE might be struggling to resolve localhost.

Answer 3

go to

C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\

and open file hosts with notepad. Is there a record like

127.0.0.1    localhost

if not try to add it else is IE...

Answer 4

I've already solved the problem by editing c:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts file. There was a line Code: [Select]

::1 localhost

Which shouldn't be there apparently. Don't know how it got there, but removing it apparently restores localhost functionality.

This will help you to change the permission for the readonly hosts file.

Make sure that you change it back to readonly.

Answer 5

If some of you still have this problem, try to open IE in private mode. It worked for me.

Answer 6

In Site Bindings set the IP Address to : All Unassigned / select a port (if you want).

This also works for IE 11,

Then Try http://localhost:323/