Unable to connect: Can’t assign requested address

Note: This article is for users with technical experience. For other users, please contact the ExpressVPN Support Team for direct assistance.

Users who recently changed to ExpressVPN may see an error message in their diagnostics similar to this:

MANAGEMENT: Socket bind failed on local address [AF_INET]180.168.41.175:49314: Can't assign requested address

If you see this message, the problem may be that your host file is missing some important lines. To confirm:

1. Open Terminal
2. In Terminal, type “ping localhost“
3. You should see something like the below:64 bytes from 127.0.0.1: icmp_seq=0 ttl=64 time=0.064 ms
64 bytes from 127.0.0.1: icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=0.069 ms
64 bytes from 127.0.0.1: icmp_seq=2 ttl=64 time=0.303 ms
4. To stop, hit Control + C

If you see an IP address that is NOT 127.0.0.1, your host file is missing some important lines. To fix this:

1. Open Terminal via Spotlight Search (command + space, then type “terminal”)
2. In Terminal, enter sudo nano /private/etc/hosts
3. Enter your admin password. You will not be able to see which characters you input so type carefully.
4. Your host file will be loaded onto Terminal. Use the arrow keys to navigate between lines in the file.
5. Enter the below three lines if you do not see them in your host file:127.0.0.1 localhost
255.255.255.255 broadcasthost
::1 localhost
6. After editing the file, press Control + O and then Enter to confirm the file modification. Your file should look like this:
7. Press Control + X to quit editing the host file
8. You will need to flush the existing DNS cache for the entries to be effective. See instructions on flushing the DNS cache.
9. Open ExpressVPN and connect to a server location

Need help? Contact the ExpressVPN Support Team via Live Chat for immediate assistance.

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