How To Test Or Preview Your Website Before Switching DNS
One of the most common questions we get is, "How Do I Preview My Website Before Changing My Name Servers?"
Since we offer free migrations from other web hosts, a lot of our customers want to double-check everything before going live just to ensure there is no downtime and visitors don't even realize a migration has happened.
In order to make this process simple, we've added a new tool inside of cPanel that enables you to easily test your website before changing your DNS:
How to test or preview your website using cPanel:
Login to cPanel and click on Website Preview under Domains:
Click Create beside the domain you wish to generate a preview link for:
Click Open to spawn a new tab:
Read/accept the proxy terms:
Congratulations! You can now preview your website before changing DNS:
For those wishing to modify their localhost file on a Mac or Windows machine, you can easily do that by following these instructions:
If you're using a Mac:
- First, you need your new IP address. This can easily be found right inside your Client Area or welcome email:
- Once you have that, open Terminal inside your Utilities Folder (Applications -> Utilities -> Terminal)
- To be on the safe side, you should backup your existing host file, just in case. Simply copy/paste the following command and hit return:
sudo cp /private/etc/hosts /private/etc/hosts-orig
- After you have a backup copy, you can then edit your host file. To get started, simply copy/paste the following command and hit return:
sudo nano /private/etc/hosts
- You will then be prompted your admin password for your Mac user. Enter it just like you're logging onto your computer and press return.
- This will bring up your host file which looks something like this:
Host Database
#
# localhost is used to configure the loopback interface
# when the system is booting. Do not change this entry.
##
127.0.0.1 localhost
255.255.255.255 broadcasthost
::1 localhost
Below this, you will add your domain and IP address. For example:
Host Database
#
# localhost is used to configure the loopback interface
# when the system is booting. Do not change this entry.
##
127.0.0.1 localhost
255.255.255.255 broadcasthost
::1 localhost
64.91.237.213 yourcooldomain.com
64.91.237.213 www.yourcooldomain.com
- After you add your IP + domain press Control + X to exit nano and Y and press return to commit the changes.
- Once this has been completed, you need to flush your local DNS by typing this command and pressing return:
dscacheutil -flushcache
After you do that, close out your open browsers, and re-open to view your website on the new server! Sometimes, just to double-check, I'll upload a unique file to the new server and make sure I can access it in my browser.
If you're using Windows:
- Locate the hosts file on your computer. Typically, for Windows 7, 8, 10 and 11 it's located in the path below:
C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc
- Right-click on it and select Notepad.
But sometimes, even when you are logged on with administrative credentials, you may receive the following error message:
Access to C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\ hosts was denied
Or
Cannot create the C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts file. Make sure that the path and file name are correct.
In this case, type Notepad in start search and right-click on the Notepad result. Select Run as administrator.
- Once you get it opened you can start making changes. As with our Mac instructions you may wish to copy your original file just in case.
By default, a Windows hosts file should be similar to the following:
127.0.0.1 localhost
You can add additional lines to this file that will point requests for a particular domain to your new server's IP address (see screenshot in step 1 of Mac). Example:
127.0.0.1 localhost
64.91.237.213 yourcooldomain.com
64.91.237.213 www.yourcooldomain.com
- When finished, Save your changes.
- You then want to flush your DNS cache by typing in cmd and the Windows search box will appear on the right side. Right-click on Command Prompt and click Run as administrator. Type in:
ipconfig /flushdns
- Restart any open browsers and then visit your website in the browser of your choice!
Both of these solutions are very quick and efficient and allow you to 100% preview your website on your new server prior to changing your DNS and going live to the public.
You can also use the cPanel preview link (i.e. http://x.x.x.x/~USERNAME) but if you have hard-coded your domain on any images or links you may not get an accurate preview. This is especially the case when using WordPress.
Updated on: 24/07/2025
Thank you!