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Safari is unable to reach localhost (127.0.0.1)

Safari is unable to reach localhost (127.0.0.1)

I've encountered a really strange Mac problem: Safari is unable to connect to localhost whereas all other applications can connect as normal (Firefox, Chrome, ping, etc.).

Asked by: Guest | Views: 263
Total answers/comments: 5
Guest [Entry]

"I think we need a little more information based on your question.

I'm going to guess you have a web server running to accept requests? I currently don't, and Safari won't connect to 127.0.0.1, because it ""Couldn't find 127.0.0.1"" - even though I can ping it just fine.

So first, you need to have something running. Secondly, have you tried connecting to testing.localhost with Safari, just incase the two entries are confusing Safari (this is entirely possible).

When you say ""applications can connect as normal"" with Chrome and Firefox, what are you seeing? The web page you're expecting to see? A different error?

Edit

I downloaded and installed MAMP, and I could not reproduce this error.

Some forum threads suggest IPv6 resolution is causing this issue. I would be inclined to turn off IPv6 and remove the entry from the hosts file (temporarily just for testing)

Apple Menu > System Preferences
Network
Select your Network Connection > Advanced
Configure IPv6 > Off

Apply, restart, and see how it goes."
Guest [Entry]

"Comment out the line:

::1 localhost

from your /etc/hosts file. Apparently this would be caused by IPv6 support in Safari."
Guest [Entry]

"To ensure it's not an issue with your web server (like @nagul asked: what server are you using?), on my 10.6 Snow Leopard with IPv6 left at automatic, and even with 127.0.0.1 testing.localhost added to my /etc/hosts, the following works fine:

Change the Listen port of the built-in Apache from 80 to 8080:
sudo vi /etc/apache2/httpd.conf
Run the built-in Apache by enabling System Preferences, Sharing, Web Sharing. Or restart using: sudo apachectl restart

Likewise, for me no problems using:

python -m SimpleHTTPServer 8080

I know you stated you're not using any proxy. Just in case there's any doubt: recent versions of Firefox allow you to choose between Firefox-specific network settings (which was the only option in older versions), and the system settings. Safari always uses the system settings. Of course, good proxy settings would ignore local addresses (defaults on my Mac for Bypass proxy settings for these Hosts & Domains: *.local, *.lan, 169.254/16). Still, one could check if Firefox still works when making it use the system settings just like Safari. (Firefox Preferences, Advanced, tab Network, button Settings.)

(Anything in the server logs or Console logs? Which version of Mac OS?)"
Guest [Entry]

What's your DNS? some DNS providers like OpenDNS depends on your settings might prevent you from going somewhere, so to test it completely remove DNS and make sure you have no proxy configured as well
Guest [Entry]

"it sounds like your server may not be running on the ip and port you're expecting. what is output when you run the following in a terminal?

netstat -anp tcp | grep 8080

you should see a line corresponding to your server. if no line appears, then your server may be running on a different port."