Chrome can't open localhost:3000 with Gulp / BrowserSync

I figured out the issue if this helps anybody.

Accessing the site through the public IP that BrowserSync gives worked, but I still needed localhost:3000, so I investigated further into the hosts file on Mac.

By default it seems this line was the one affecting the connection:

::1    localhost

All you have to do is comment this line out and all should be fine:

#::1    localhost

Hope this helps someone with a similar issue using Gulp and BrowserSync with Chrome on a Mac.

I have had this problem for weeks! I finally figured out the direct combination to resolve this on: Mac Sierra 10.12.6.

Indeed, the answer above with the most points, is correct. However, i found i had to flush my DNS Cache directly after updating my host file, otherwise i would continue to get the white screen of death - DNS caching was my issue :/

Here are the steps that finally resolved this for me:

1.Disconnect any existing gulp servers (and in my case VPN connections that affiliate with the server you are trying to proxy)

2.In your 'hosts' file:

change

::1    localhost

to

#::1    localhost

then save that file

3.Open 'Terminal'

4.Copy / paste this into Terminal, then hit enter(these commands flush your DNS cache)

sudo dscacheutil -flushcache;sudo killall -HUP mDNSResponder;

5.Reconnect to VPN (if any), re-run your gulp browsersync command

And voila! You should be able to get past the white screen, and the forever spinning browser wheel.

I have similar problems before, I tried these combinations, sometimes just changing the paths helps.

gulp.task('browser-sync',['nodemon'], function() {    browserSync.init(null, {       // proxy:"http://localhost:3000"       //server: "./server/app.js"       proxy:"localhost:3001"    });});