If DNS is not responding, how to fix it

Sometimes it can happen, when you open your web browser to connect to a website, you get an error message that says: "DNS is not responding". This means that the computer cannot contact the DNS server address, one of the main network configuration parameters.
Although at first glance it may seem an insurmountable problem, in reality we can solve the problem with DNS in a simple way, without having to contact a technician or a trusted friend to fix the computer or the connection of our smartphone.
In this guide we will find all the answers for resolve DNS connection problems, so that we could reopen the pages that showed a "Dns_Probe_Finished_No_Internet" or "no DNS connection" error.

READ ALSO: Correct the Dns_Probe_Finished_No_Internet error in Chrome

How to fix DNS problems

In the following chapters we will show you what a DNS server is and what we can do to restore it or to change it, so as to choose a faster one in response to requests.

What is a DNS server

The meaning of DNS, as explained on several occasions already, is, in a nutshell, the following: a website like (www.How2do.org) resides on a web server, ie a computer that can be anywhere in the world; however, this computer is not recognized on the network with the site address, but with an IP address such as 12.34.56.78.

In theory, to connect to this site from my computer, I would have to type in his IP address which is however difficult to remember. To facilitate the search for sites, there are therefore i DNS server, another server that contains the table of associations between IP addresses and names.
When you write a classic web address (www.) On the web browser, the computer first asks the DNS server which IP address corresponds to the site, translates it into an reachable IP then allows you to view the page on our computer.
If these DNS servers are not responding because they are clogged, slowed down or unavailable, then the browser does not know which IP address to connect to to load the requested site and shows an error page.
Most of the time, when the error appears on the DNS, there is an internet connection problem on the operator's network and all you can do is call the call center service to ask to solve it. In the meantime, however, we can see if the problem with DNS can be solved from home, by doing some checks and changing some configuration.

How to restore DNS on Windows PC

First of all let's connect to the network with another computer or even with the smartphone to see if the Internet works. If so, the problem is on the computer where the DNS server is badly configured.
To restore it we can simply restart the PC; if it is not enough we advise you to change DNS servers on Windows or empty the DNS cache.
To do this we open the command prompt with administrator permissions (just search Command prompt in the Start menu and select the item Open as administrator) and type the command ipconfig / flushdns; at the end we restart the computer to make the changes effective.

How to restore DNS on Mac

If the DNS server problem concerns a Mac, we can try to restore by restarting the device and trying to surf again; if the problem persists, change the DNS by clicking on the network connection icon at the top right, clicking on Open network preferencesby selecting the button advanced on the active connection and bringing us to the screen DNS.

How to restore DNS on Android and iPhone

On Android and iPhone we can try to solve the DNS problem by activating the Flight mode and deactivating it immediately afterwards, so as to reset any type of active Internet connection. If the problem persists, we try to turn off Wi-Fi and leave only the data network connection (LTE or 5G) active.

As a last resort we can change the DNS for available connections, as seen in our guides How to change DNS on Android and iPhone is Set up DNS on Android and iPhone with the Cloudflare 1.1.1.1 app.

How to reset DNS on router

If none of the above methods work or the DNS error only appears when we are connected to our home Wi-Fi network, the problem may be with the router with which we provide Internet access.

To attempt DNS recovery we turn off the router, disconnect the power cable and leave it off for at least 30 seconds. After this time, reconnect everything and turn it on again, so as to verify the resolution of the DNS problem.

If our router allows it we set new global DNS by entering the device settings, so that all connected devices can use the DNS chosen by us also based on speed (we talked about it in our guide 5 fastest and safest DNS addresses to protect your internet connection).

Other tricks and methods to restore DNS

The hints seen so far will allow you to solve most DNS problems; if all this is not enough, we can try one of the tricks below, so as to really try anything before calling telephone support:

• First of all, try with a different browser and see if the site loads or not; for example, we used Chrome, try with Edge or Firefox. If the site responds correctly, there may be a proxy set that prevents the connection or some extension that is hijacking it. For this type of problem, I refer you to reading the guide for protect your browser from "Hijackers" malware that redirect your connection and to that for reset Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer browsers.
• We can try a disable all unnecessary connections. To open the Network Connections window, click on the Start menu or press the Windows key to search or execute the command ncpa.cpl . Leave the connection active and, on all the others present, right click on it and use the option disable.The problem on the DNS server can be caused by the network "Microsoft Virtual WiFi Miniport Adapter"
• Try to restore the network following the relative guide.
• Try to connect to the internet in safe mode: restart your computer in safe mode to upload only the essential files for Windows and check that there is no program or service that prevents connection to websites.
• Reset the router it's the last resort, a good option to try before giving up. To reset the router, you can press the very small button on the back with the tip of a pen. Keep in mind that any administrator password and any wifi networks will be reset.

If not even so, we must give up and call our operator's telephone support, who will surely know what to do to try to solve the problem.

Conclusions

DNS are important for any connection, therefore their functioning must always be guaranteed in order to access all the Internet sites or the most common web services. Their operation is simple but in case of problems we will often have to slam between one setting and another before finding the real responsible for not loading the web page.

To contact the operator about unresponsive DNS servers, please read our guide on how Request TIM, WindTre, Vodafone, Fastweb operator assistance.
If instead we suspect that the chosen site is having connection problems, we can make a quick check by reading our guide Meaning of errors if a site does not open or load on the browser.