Hosting A Website On An Old Laptop

want to do this for a hobby weekend project.
I have an old windows 7 laptop lying around that I want to repurpose. I already know how to set up a website on localhost using XAMMP. What I'm curious about is that crucial final step.
When I buy hosting online, I connect a domain to the hosting using the nameservers offered by the hosting service. I can also point the DNS records to the hosting IP address.
How does this work when the "Hosting" is my own laptop, connected to an internet connection whose IP changes from time to time?
Note: I know about the 'security risks' of opening up a computer to the internet - - as mentioned above, this is a spare computer, and I just want to do this as a hobby project so I learn more about how webhosting works.

So let's say I bought a TLD from namecheap, how would I go about point that domain to my laptop-hosted website?

dont do it it will die , you need server

Your isp most probably
1) has dynamic ip
2) has blocked incoming traffic on port 80/443.

It is possible to host a site on your laptop. You will need a vps though (a cheap one will suffice). What you need to do is have a reverse tunnel set up 24/7. That tunnel will fetch content from your laptop periodically, and proxy it through the vps.

This is extremely inefficient though, not only from speed perspective, but also because your laptop most probably is very power hungry.


I’d advice not doing what you are trying to. A cheap vps would be far better.

noellarkin said:

How does this work when the "Hosting" is my own laptop, connected to an internet connection whose IP changes from time to time?

Click to expand...

You need to use a dynamic dns service.

good luck with project. sounds like a good one to learn a few things
have you tried googling phrases like access xamp local server from public internet.
lots of tutorials
if you are into tinkering you know you sometimes try 5x different tutorials eventually one will work
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/822902/access-xampp-localhost-from-internet
https://www.nstec.com/how-to-make-xampp-server-public-without-vpn/

There are always those who tell you not to do it (life's full of them), see how many there are.. I would suggest you give it a go and even if unsuccessful you will have learnt a thing or two along the way.

you can host sites on your old laptop.
you need a static ip address and required ports should be open,
domain can easily connect with your laptop.

I thought of doing this before. Then I watched a Youtube video and decided against it. But it's too much hassle anyway, so I didn't do it.

Then again, everything is a hassle to me, you may proceed

Better use it for scraping