You do not have to wait for DNS to start building. There are two ways to reach the site early.
METHOD 1 - THE TEMPORARY URL
Your welcome email includes a temporary address for the account. It is adequate for uploading files and checking they are present.
Be aware that content management systems such as WordPress store the site address in the database, so a WordPress site accessed this way often has broken images and links. It is fine for static sites and for checking file structure.
METHOD 2 - EDIT YOUR HOSTS FILE (RECOMMENDED)
This makes only your computer resolve the domain to our server, so the site behaves exactly as it will once live.
- Get your account's server IP from cPanel's right-hand panel, or from your welcome email.
- On Windows, open Notepad as administrator and edit C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts On macOS or Linux, edit
/etc/hostswith sudo. - Add a line: the IP address, a space, then yourdomain.com
- Add a second line for www.yourdomain.com
- Save, then visit the domain in your browser.
Remove the lines once DNS has propagated, or you will keep seeing a stale version long after everyone else has moved on.
