October 27, 2020
6min Read
Aldwin N.
Sometimes you might find that sites do not want to load even though your internet connection is fine and the URL is written correctly. In Google Chrome, this usually occurs in a form of DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_NXDOMAIN error message.
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In this article, we’re going to show you a number of methods on how to solve this error and explain why it might appear in the first place. So, let’s get started, shall we?
Table of Contents
There are several ways to fix this issue, so we’re going to touch upon some of the most common causes of this error message.
DNS cache keeps the IP address of your previously visited sites. Clearing the cache can help solve DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_NXDOMAIN error since outdated IP addresses might be the cause of the problem.
To flush the DNS cache on Windows, you’ll need to do the following:
ipconfig/flushdns
NOTE: If you’re using a different operating system, see our guide on How to Flush DNS on Linux and macOS.
If the previous solution didn’t do the trick, this is a more in-depth way of clearing the DNS cache which is similar to the previous step.
Open the Command Prompt administrative rights just like before and enter the following commands one by one:
ipconfig/release
ipconfig/all
ipconfig/flushdns
ipconfig/renew
netsh int ip set dns netsh winsock reset
People use this process to renew their IP address and reset the Winsock on their systems. Resetting Winsock is useful because it’s responsible for controlling requests from Internet applications and you may want to do so once in a while.
Here’s how to release and renew an IP address on macOS:
If clearing the cache does not work, you can change your DNS servers. By default, your computer is using DNS provided by your internet service provider. If you’re having issues, you can change that to Google DNS or OpenDNS.
Here’s how to change your DNS server on Windows:
8.8.8.8 8.8.4.4
If you want to use OpenDNS, include the following:
208.67.220.222 208.67.222.220
Here’s how to change your DNS server on macOS:
One more method includes restarting the DNS Client service. There are three ways how you can do this on Windows.
To reset the DNS service from the command line, follow the steps below:
net stop dnscache
Once done, wait for the following output to be shown:
The DNS Client service was stopped successfully.
net start dnscache
Wait for the output:
The DNS Client service was started successfully.
Here’s how to restart DNS Client service using Windows Services:
You can rebooth DNS Client service using the Windows System Configuration manager.
A hosts file is a local file on your computer that maps domain names to IP addresses. Your computer will always refer to the hosts file first if you want to visit a website. Only if there is no information, that it will search the DNS system to load the site.
So you might want to check if the website you’re planning to visit is recorded there. It may be responsible for triggering the DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_NXDOMAIN error.
To check the hosts file on Windows:
%SystemRoot%:\Windows\System32\Drivers\etc
If the domain name and IP address of the problematic website are recorded, remove them, and then save your changes.
Here’s how to check the hosts file on macOS.
sudo nano /private/etc/hosts
Sometimes, one of the solutions to fix the DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_NXDOMAIN error message is to try and reset Google Chrome settings and experimental features that were accidentally modified. To do this, type in the following in your address bar:
chrome://flags
You’ll get access to all experimental Chrome features available. Click Reset all button on the upper right corner. Then close and reopen your browser.
IMPORTANT: Google Chrome allows its users to try out experimental features. Since these are still under development, not all of them run smoothly on some devices. It might even mess up your connection, so be careful when using them.
Using a VPN or antivirus software offers incredible security solutions for people who spend a lot of time online. Unfortunately, these features can sometimes prevent users from accessing some websites.
If that’s the case, you may want to try turning off any active VPN or antivirus to see if that solves the error.
Disabling your antivirus is easy – you usually only need to open its control panel and find the option to temporarily turn it off
On the other hand, to disable a VPN on Windows, please follow these steps:
If the methods above still don’t solve the DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_NXDOMAIN error, try restarting your internet router. Here’s how to properly do so:
If everything else fails, contact your internet provider. Ask if there are any issues on their side or if they can work out a solution for you.
Having a DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_NXDOMAIN error message is a common problem and most of the time this is a DNS-related issue.
Domain Name System is a type of system that allows you to visit websites by entering their address in a web browser instead of an IP address. When someone is trying to access a website, the DNS sends a request to an online database and searches for the IP address connected to that URL.
If the DNS does not find any matching results, your web browser splashes the error message. This doesn’t apply to Google Chrome only, though. For example, Mozilla Firefox prompts this as “We can’t connect to the server at example.com”.
DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_NXDOMAIN is a common, but easy-to-fix issue. In this article, we learned about some of the causes and ways of solving this error message.
If you know any other way on how to fix this error, feel free to leave a comment down below.
September 03 2019
This is working 100% ipconfig/release ipconfig/all ipconfig/flushdns ipconfig/renew netsh int ip set dns netsh winsock reset
July 31 2020
Thanks for you help !
October 28 2020
thanks very much for the help!
December 13 2020
great article
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