I have searched "set chrome to use hosts file dns" and "chrome doesn't use hosts file" in Google, with results to no avail.

The results returned useless pages like:
https://productforums.google.com/for...8/oQYkr-6vKn8J
https://superuser.com/questions/7237...ts-and-dnsmasq
https://superuser.com/questions/3431...-google-chrome
internet explorer - Chrome Ignoring Host File - Stack Overflow
https://www.reddit.com/r/chrome/comm...le_on_windows/
https://superuser.com/questions/4319...irection-fails
ubuntu 12.04 - How to enable instant host file reading in Chrome? - Stack Overflow

Apparently it does not work on Linux either: https://superuser.com/questions/4626...low-hosts-file.

https://superuser.com/questions/3547...e-witho/354838 gets close to the answer, but does not quite work. ip - why is my hosts file entry being ignored by the browser? - Stack Overflow offers the same answer but acknowledges that

Code:

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chrome://net-internals/#dns

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does not work. I also tried the Hosts Switch Plus extension. It did not work for me.

In fact the Chromium project themselves stated they "WontFix" this "feature": https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium...etail?id=26545.

How can I most easily accomplish this?

The correct answer appeared when I searched for "flush DNS cache Chrome". The second answer here did the trick for me: In Chrome visit chrome://net-internals/#sockets then click "Flush socket pools".

Also, there is an extension named DNS Flusher that allows the hosts file to be reloaded with one click. Now all I'm waiting for is an extension that reloads the hosts file with no clicks.