MicrosoftHostsPicker

A modern, asynchronous Python tool to automatically find and select the fastest IP addresses for Microsoft services.

🚀 Features

Asynchronous ping testing - Concurrent latency testing for faster results
Smart IP selection - Intelligent early termination when optimal IPs are found
Modular configuration - Easy-to-customize service definitions
Beautiful console output - Rich, colorful progress indicators and results
Modern Python - Built with asyncio, type hints, and dataclasses

🎯 Why This Tool?

In certain regions, Microsoft services may experience poor performance due to DNS resolving to suboptimal IP addresses. This tool solves that problem by:

Testing hundreds of IP addresses concurrently
Identifying the lowest-latency endpoints for each service
Generating optimized hosts file entries
Supporting 10+ Microsoft services including Xbox Live, Office CDN, Microsoft Store, and more

📋 Supported Services

Microsoft Account - account.microsoft.com
Xbox Live CDN - Game content delivery and multiplayer services
Xbox Cloud Sync - Save game synchronization
Office CDN - Office application downloads and updates
Microsoft Store - App store images and pages
Microsoft Games Download - Game installation and updates
Windows Update - System updates and patches
Microsoft Login - Authentication services (static IP)

🛠️ Installation

Prerequisites

Python 3.12+
Network connectivity for ping testing

Method 1: Using uv (Recommended)

# Install uv if you haven't already
pip install uv

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/WayneXuCN/MicrosoftHostsPicker.git
cd MicrosoftHostsPicker

# Install dependencies
uv sync

Method 2: Using pip

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/WayneXuCN/MicrosoftHostsPicker.git
cd MicrosoftHostsPicker

# Install dependencies
pip install ping3==4.0.4

🚀 Usage

Basic Usage

python MicrosoftHostsPicker.py

Advanced Configuration

You can customize the behavior by modifying config.py:

DEFAULT_CONFIG = {
    'ping_attempts': 2,           # Number of ping attempts per IP
    'ping_timeout': 0.5,          # Ping timeout in seconds
    'ping_max_workers': 100,      # Concurrent ping limit
    'good_enough_threshold': 50.0, # Stop testing if latency < 50ms
}

📁 Project Structure

MicrosoftHostsPicker/
├── MicrosoftHostsPicker.py    # Main application
├── config.py                  # Service configurations
├── pyproject.toml            # Project metadata and dependencies
├── uv.lock                   # Lock file for reproducible builds
├── data/                     # IP address databases
│   ├── Microsoft_Account.txt
│   ├── Xbox_Live_CDN_1.txt
│   └── ...
└── hosts                     # Generated hosts file (after running)

🔧 How It Works

Configuration Loading - Reads service definitions from config.py
Asynchronous Testing - Concurrently pings IP addresses from data files
Smart Optimization - Uses early termination for large IP sets
Result Generation - Creates optimized hosts file entries
User Guidance - Provides clear instructions for implementation

📖 Usage Tips

Selective Application: Only replace problematic IP addresses in your system’s hosts file
Backup First: Always backup your existing hosts file before making changes
Service-Specific: Some services use global CDN and may not need manual configuration
Regular Updates: Re-run the tool periodically as optimal IPs may change

🔍 Understanding the Output

The tool provides rich console output:

✅ Green checkmark: Optimal IP found
❌ Red X: No available IP found
⚠️ Warning: Test failed
📊 Progress bar: Shows testing progress for large IP sets

🛡️ System Hosts File Locations

Windows: C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts
macOS/Linux: /etc/hosts

Remember to run as administrator/sudo when modifying system hosts files.

🙏 Acknowledgments

This project is based on ButaiKirin/MicrosoftHostsPicker. Thanks to the original author for the foundation work.

🤝 Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit issues, feature requests, or pull requests.

📄 License

This project is licensed under the terms specified in the LICENSE file.