PC version of Google Chrome doesn't recognize ".local" domain name

Call your .local domain once in Chrome prepending it with the http:// or https:// scheme (e.g.: http://mywebsite.local ).
This will avoid the Google search and instead will call your local website.

You only need to do this once. From this moment on you can enter the local URL without http:// or https:// and it will still be loaded locally (e.g.: mywebsite.local ).

Add it to C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts (be sure to open as Administrator so you have access to write to that file)

127.0.0.1 prosseek.local

then run

ipconfig /flushdns

and you should be able to

ping prosseek.local

Note: if chrome still ignores the hostname just add a trailing forward slash, e.g. prosseek.local/ which will bypass the search. Source: https://code.google.com/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=30636

Another solution is to just add a / at the end. For example, type mywebsite.local/ in the address bar and hit Enter. You don't even need to write http:// or https:// at the beginning.