Trying to get started - help please

I only just got here, and I’m lost already. Are there any guides or tutorials I can read?

Local by Flywheel was recommended to me as a way to redevelop a charity website I started back in 2012. Minor changes I’ve done on the fly, but I can’t redevelop a live site.

I installed everything and did the basic configuration yesterday. I was happy to see a neat little ‘Hello World’ site. Today, I thought I’d make a start, but as soon as I tried to do anything I ran into ERR_NAME_NOT_RESOLVED

I’m using Wordpress under Chrome on Windows 10. I’ve tried ipconfig /flushdns etc but that didn’t help.

The address I’m failing to get to is .local Does this need pre-fixing in some way? That’s what was in the address bar when the home page was showing. If I try to go to .local/wp-admin I get the same ERR_NAME_NOT_RESOLVED ( the site’s server IP address could not be found)

According to the ‘dashboard’ window, I have one site running. I just can’t get it to load.

Some kind of basic guide would be really helpful. I’m not keen on wasting peoples time with really basic questions, but in the absence of any documentation (as far as I know) I don’t seem to have any choice.

Any/all help gratefully received.

PS Additional info. In the ‘dashboard’ I found the IP address of the database (192.168.95.100). If I enter that in the browser address bar I get an incompletely rendered version of the ‘Hello World’ wordpress site.

Hi @BrianL,

Sorry for the trouble!

Are you using anti-virus such as Bitdefender or Kaspersky?

Hi Clay,

Many thanks for getting back to me, and sorry for my slow reply. I was away for the Bank Holiday weekend.

Yes, you guessed right… I’m using Bitdefender Internet Security 2018 in its ‘Autopilot’ mode.

I still have the Chrome tab open with the Hello World site showing. The odd thing about that is that the address bar shows it as 192.168.1.213/#content. As I mentioned, if I click to login I get the

This site can’t be reached
chilworth-hampshire.local’s server IP address could not be found.
ERR_NAME_NOT_RESOLVED

Do I need to whitelist something in Bitdefender’s web protection?

I’d be very grateful for your advice.

Brian

Same problem. It’s really frustrating. Funny thing is, it used to work when I first installed it in February. I’ve tried everything I can think of. No firewalls, no anti-virus. Getting really frustrated…

Yes, frustrating is the word. I found another thread that may help, although I’m really stumbling around in the dark. The thread is at Keep getting ERR_ICANN_NAME_COLLISION

I followed the advice there and found my hosts file (didn’t even know it existed!). The contents are below. I’m guessing that # has the effect of commenting out what follows. Tomorrow I’m going to stop Bitdefender from checking the hosts file, remove those leading #s and see what happens. Fingers crossed. If it works, that will be an end to one frustration but it will be a pain having to have a “Bitdefender settings / hosts editing” session every time I want to do some web development…

## Local by Flywheel - Start ##
# 192.168.95.100 mydomain.local #Local Site
# 192.168.95.100 www.mydomain.local #Local Site
## Local by Flywheel - End ##

You can tell bitdefender to stop monitoring your hosts file.

True, and I had to do that to test that this was indeed the problem. The good news is that everything now works, so I now have a solution to the problem that’s been holding me up.

However, as someone pointed out on the other thread (it may even have been you :slight_smile:), the hosts file is a common attack vector used by malware. I’m therefore concerned about leaving it unprotected. From what I can see, Bitdefender’s approach to protecting the hosts file is all or nothing. It thus becomes a question of which is the lesser of the two evils: leaving hosts unprotected or accepting the necessity for repetitive toggling of settings and checking of hosts.

I found these two threads interesting (but ultimately unhelpful):

I do use Malwarebytes, so I’ll research further as to whether or not that would provide an adequate safety net.

perhaps it would be worth contacting BitDefender for some advice on how to allow specific apps to change the file.

Good idea, I’ll do that. Even if it’s not currently possible, it may set some new wheels in motion. I’ve already raised a ticket with Malwarebytes, asking for their take on all this (specifically, what does their product do to monitor/protect the hosts file?)