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How to force Firefox to search localhost prior to searching the internet.

Wayne Knight
Wayne Knight
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I am building a new website on an Ubuntu 20.04 server with a LEMP stack. To test the web server (nginx) I set up a simple test site named nginxtest.com. Nginx server block tests are successful and there are no errors in any logs, so it appears that it is working properly. However, when I attempt to show the site by putting the site name into Firefox, all I get is a notice from Verizon that it has no knowledge of the website (which it shouldn't as it's not a registered name).

I want FIrefox to search localhost for my test site, but the only way I can make it work is to change the network-dns-native-is-localhost setting to true (default is false) in the about:config settings. When I change that setting, my test site pops right up, but then I can't reach any site on the internet.

How can I force Firefox to direct web searches to localhost before going out to the internet?

I am building a new website on an Ubuntu 20.04 server with a LEMP stack. To test the web server (nginx) I set up a simple test site named nginxtest.com. Nginx server block tests are successful and there are no errors in any logs, so it appears that it is working properly. However, when I attempt to show the site by putting the site name into Firefox, all I get is a notice from Verizon that it has no knowledge of the website (which it shouldn't as it's not a registered name). I want FIrefox to search localhost for my test site, but the only way I can make it work is to change the network-dns-native-is-localhost setting to true (default is false) in the about:config settings. When I change that setting, my test site pops right up, but then I can't reach any site on the internet. How can I force Firefox to direct web searches to localhost before going out to the internet?

All Replies (1)

jscher2000 - Support Volunteer
jscher2000 - Support Volunteer
  • Top 25 Contributor
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I'm not very familiar with DNS resolution on Linux, so bear with me.

It sounds as though you are using your standard ISP DNS and not Firefox's DNS-over-HTTPS (DoH) feature.

Have you set up an entry in the hosts file for this hostname <==> IP address pair? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hosts_(file)