3 Ways to Reset DNS in Windows 10

There are many reasons why in Windows 10 you will need to flush or reset your DNS, the most popular of which is that websites are not resolving correctly, and it may be a problem with your DNS cache keeping an incorrect address. In this guide, you’ll learn 3 different ways to reset DNS in Windows 10.

However, In Microsoft Windows 10, flushing the DNS resolver cache will help solve DNS related problems. Issues may involve unfinding errors on the website or not being able to access those evolving web pages.

What is DNS?

DNS means Domain Name System. It converts the names of websites into IP addresses that the computers can understand. For any website you wish to visit, this happens. Whenever a user visits a website by their hostname, the web browser initiates an internet search, but this search can not be fulfilled before the name of the website is “converted” to an IP address.

Meanwhile, Windows comes with an option that stores the specified DNS server address to speed up your browsing experience. The TCP / IP stack uses that IP address and refers to this user-specific DNS service or gateway-specific service to resolve the domain name of the website to its IP address and upload it to your web browser.

To improve your browsing experience, Windows comes with an option that stores the specified DNS server address. The TCP / IP stack uses the IP address and refers to this user-specific DNS or gateway-specific service to resolve the website’s domain name to its IP address and upload it to your web server.

What is DNS Cache?

DNS cache refers to the temporary storage on a machine’s OS or web browser of information about previous DNS lookups. Holding a local copy of a DNS lookup helps your OS or browser to easily retrieve it, and therefore the URL of a website can be much more conveniently resolved to its corresponding IP. The fundamental function of various types of caches is all more or less the same.

Not only does DNS caching happen at the OS and device level. In fact, a DNS lookup involves various steps as described above. The search passes through the resolver, root server, and TLD server in the process of a new DNS lookup. Information is collected at each stage and stored for later use. Therefore, even if the local DNS cache is empty, a cached copy of the necessary information may be accessible to the resolver, thereby avoiding the need to go through the entire DNS lookup phase.

How to View your Current DNS Cache

To view your current DNS cache, run Command Prompt as administrator and type ipconfig /displaydns. The command will produce a very long output.

ipconfig /displaydns

How to Reset DNS Cache in Windows 10

Normally, there are three types of caches on Windows which you can flush easily:

• Memory Cache
• DNS Cache
• Thumbnails Cache

Clearing the Memory Cache will free up some system memory, while clearing the Thumbnail Cache will make your hard disk space secure. Clearing the DNS cache will fix problems with your internet access.

So without further ado, here is how to reset DNS Cache in Windows 10:

1. Reset DNS Cache via Command Prompt in Windows 10

Step 1. Type CMD in the search bar and then from the result click Run as administrator. Click Yes if you’re prompted.

Step 2. Now, simply type ipconfig /flushdns and press enter.

ipconfig /flushdns

Step 3. You should see the following message:
Windows IP Configuration. Successfully flushed the DNS Resolver Cache.

Successfully flushed the DNS Resolver Cache

2. Flush DNS Cache via PowerShell

Type PowerShell in the search bar, click Run as Administrator. If you’re prompted, click Yes.

PowerShell

Type Clear-DnsClientCache, then press Enter.

Clear-DnsClientCache

3. Reset DNS via Windows Command 

• Press Windows key + R to open Run, or simply right-click on the Start Menu button and select Run.

Run

• Type ipconfig /flushdns then press enter or click OK.

ipconfig /flushdns

That’s all. This is how you can reset or flush DNS Cache in Windows 10 in 3 different ways. When you flush the DNS Cache, all entries are inserted and any invalid records are deleted. This will cause your machine to repopulate those addresses when you try to visit those websites the next time. These new addresses are taken from the DNS server which is set up for your network to use. Change DNS settings on your PC running Windows 10.

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