Map IP address to localhost (locally) under Windows 7

Question

So basically I want to map the IP address 1.2.3.4 to localhost.

So that when I browse to:

1.2.3.4/somepage.html

It will fetch:

127.0.0.1/somepage.html

Does anyone know how I could go about doing this? Unfortunately the hosts file does not allow these kind of mappings.

Solution

What if you add 1.2.3.4 as an extra IP address to your machine.

Comments

[Elodie E2]

Straightforward, but the disadvantage here would be that the machine would be visible to others as that address. This could cause conflicts, or the desired address might be on a completely different network which won't work on the network(s) to which the machine is currently attached.

[sgmoore]

I would agree with you on the first point, assuming the ip address is within your own network range. And it would cause ip conflicts if you are attempting to use the address of an existing machine on your network. However, if the ip address is on a completely different network range, then should work fine and it effectively means that your machine and your machine alone is on a second network.

[Amir Ali Akbari]

See superuser.com/a/768375/144375 for instructions to do so.