How to Fix the “DNS Server Not Responding” Error (15 Solutions)

Key Takeaways

• The “DNS Server Not Responding” error stops browsing due to failed DNS lookups.
• Restarting your router can resolve temporary DNS issues quickly.
• Changing to a reliable DNS server like Google or Cloudflare can improve connection stability.
• Regularly checking DNS records and using reliable providers reduces recurring DNS issues.

If you try to load a webpage and instead see “DNS Server Not Responding,” Chrome’s ERR_NAME_NOT_RESOLVED, or a generic “Server Not Found” error, the problem could be with your network or DNS configuration.

Your device may still be connected to the internet, but it might be unable to translate the domain name into the IP address needed to reach the website.

The cause of the error could be something really simple like a temporary glitch with your Wi-Fi router, or a misconfiguration in the website’s domain records. Anyway, fixing the DNS Server Not Responding error is relatively easy and usually takes just a few simple steps.

In this guide, I’ll cover advanced server-side fixes for website owners and quick local network fixes for regular everyday visitors.

What Does the “DNS Server Not Responding” Error Mean?

To get to know this error in a bit more detail, you’ll first need to understand what a DNS is. To keep it simple, you can think of the Domain Name System like a phonebook.

Every website you visit has a specific IP address, like a cell phone number with a long string of numbers. Since we humans can’t memorize thousands of numeric addresses for every site, DNS works as a translator that turns website names into the actual IP addresses required to reach the site we want to visit.

But when you see the “DNS Server Not Responding” error, it means your device sent a request to the DNS server to find an address, but the server failed, leaving your browser unable to load the page.

Fix “DNS Server Not Responding” (For Website Visitors)

If you’re a regular website visitor and run into this error, the problem could be due to some issue on your local network. You just need to pinpoint and fix.

Don’t worry, I’ve listed a few tested steps in order from the easiest to the most advanced to help you fix DNS server issues on your end.

1. Restart Your Router and Modem

I know it sounds like a cliché, but restarting your router is the easiest fix for the DNS server not responding wifi error.

Routers store a temporary DNS cache to help speed up page loads, but if that cache gets corrupted or overloaded, it can mess up your connection and trigger the DNS Server Not Responding error.

To fix, unplug your router and modem from the wall outlet. Wait 30 seconds or so before plugging it back in. Once powered on, go ahead and load the page again and this time the error should go away.

2. Flush the DNS Cache and Renew Your IP

If the router restart solution didn’t work for you, then your computer’s local system cache probably might be holding onto outdated or broken IP addresses.

To fix, you’ll need to manually clear it out.

For Windows (including Windows 11):

• Open up the Command Prompt on your Windows machine. A quick way to launch it is to type cmd into the Windows search bar.

• Run the Command Prompt as an administrator.
• Run the ipconfig /flushdns command to flush dns cache files.
• Then run the ipconfig /renew command to grab a fresh IP address from your router.

For Mac Users:

• If you are seeing the DNS server not responding mac error, open up your Terminal and run this command: sudo dscacheutil -flushcache; sudo killall -HUP mDNSResponder.
• Type in your admin password when prompted to run the command. Once the cache clears, restart your browser and check if the error is gone.

3. Switch to a Reliable Public DNS Server

Internet service providers (ISPs) automatically assign default DNS servers to your network. But the problem with default servers is that they’re not only slow but also prone to unexpected outages.

If the error is caused by one of the default DNS servers assigned to your network, you can easily change dns server settings and use a more reliable public option.

Two most popular free options are:

• Google DNS: 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4
• Cloudflare DNS: 1.1.1.1 and 1.0.0.1

How to change on Windows

Go to the Network Connections panel, right-click your active Wi-Fi or Ethernet adapter, then open its Properties.

Next, double-click Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) and select the “Use the following DNS server addresses” option. And enter the Google or Cloudflare DNS addresses I shared earlier. Don’t forget to click OK to save your settings.

How to change on Mac

On a mac, go to System Settings > Network and choose your active connection. Click on Details, and select the DNS tab. Then click on the + button, add the Google or Cloudflare IP addresses and click OK to save.

Now go back to your browser, refresh and see if the website finally loads. If not, move to the next solution.

4. Reset Your VPN Connection

If you use a VPN for work or privacy in general, it might be the reason why you’re facing connection issues.

When you use a VPN, it forces all your web traffic to pass through its own private DNS servers. If that VPN’s own server experiences an outage or glitches, your browser will fail to resolve the address, despite having a perfectly working internet connection.

To test if your VPN is triggering the DNS Server Not Responding error, temporarily disconnect it.

Once turned off, refresh your browser. If the webpage loads, you know what’s causing the issue.

To fix the issue permanently, simply choose a different server location from your VPN app before turning it back on.

5. Adjust Mobile DNS Settings for iOS and Android

So far, we’ve looked at fixes for Windows and Mac, however, this error doesn’t just happen on desktop computers.

If you’re on your phone and run into the error, you’ll need to change your mobile DNS settings to bypass your network’s default servers.

Here’s how:

For iOS (iPhone and iPad)

• Go to Settings > Wi-Fi and tap the small “i” icon next to the connection name you’re connected to.
• Scroll down on this page, tap on Configure DNS and change Automatic to Manual.

• Then delete the existing DNS entries you see and tap Add Server to use Google or Cloudflare’s DNS servers.

• Tap Save and try reloading the page to see if the error is gone.

For Android

• On Android, tap on Settings > Network & internet or Connections, depending on your phone model.

• Tap on Private DNS > Private DNS provider hostname and type in dns.google.

• Tap Save, refresh your browser and check if the error is resolved.

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6. Temporarily Disable Your Antivirus and Firewall

Antivirus software and firewalls are essential for security, but sometimes they can get a little too aggressive. A strict firewall, for example, can accidentally flag and block even safe DNS requests, blocking access to certain websites.

To rule this out, open up your antivirus settings and temporarily pause real-time protection or web shield. Try the same for your system firewall.

Once they’re both paused, load the website again. If it works, you know your security software is triggering the error. At this point, you can turn on your antivirus again and whitelist your web browser in the settings. This will prevent the error from happening again.

7. Update Your Network Adapter Drivers

Another reason for the error could be due to outdated or corrupted network adapter drivers. If drivers are broken, your device would be unable to send or receive the translation requests required to load a web page, triggering that “not responding” error.

To fix this, go ahead and update your network adapter drivers.

For Windows:

• Right-click on the Start button and select the Device Manager option.

• Go ahead and expand the Network adapters dropdown.

• Look for the network adapter you’re using, right-click on it and select the Update Driver option.

• Once the driver is updated, restart your computer to apply the changes.

If Windows doesn’t find an update or you are unable to perform an update through this menu, you can download the latest network driver from your laptop or motherboard manufacturer’s website directly.

8. Check Your Hosts File for Interference

The “hosts” file is a system file that maps hostnames to IP addresses. It is a hidden file so this fix is on the more advanced side of things.

Anyways, if a malicious program or a past configuration altered this file, it can confuse your computer into looking for the wrong address, overriding your DNS settings.

For Windows:

• To fix this, open Notepad as an administrator and go to File > Open and paste this path into the address bar: C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc. Make sure the file type dropdown is set to All Files.

• Open the file named hosts.

• If you see any suspicious lines at the bottom of this file that mention website URLs, delete them. Then save the file, and restart your browser. This should fix the error.

For Mac:

• Open Terminal and run the sudo nano /etc/hosts command and enter your password.
• When a text editor within the Terminal window opens up, look at the very bottom of the file. If you see the URL of the website you are trying to visit, that entry is blocking your access. So, go ahead and erase that specific line.

• To save the changes you make to the file in the nano editor, hit Control + O, then Return, and finally Control + X to close the file.

9. Reset Your Network Settings

Last but not the least, if you have tried everything and are still stuck with the DNS Server Not Responding error, you’ll need to perform a “clean slate” reset.

What this will do is that it’ll reset stuff like saved Wi-Fi networks, custom network configurations, etc., to their factory defaults.

For Windows:

• Go to Settings > Network & internet > Advanced network settings.

• Look for the option that says Network reset and click on it.

Next, click on Reset now.

• Your computer will now restart automatically. Once it reboots, you’ll need to reconnect to your Wi-Fi manually. Once connected, refresh your browser to see if the error is gone.

For Mac:

• Go to System Settings > Network or System Preferences > Network if you are on an older version of macOS.
• Click on Wi-Fi > Details, select your current network and click Forget This Network. Then reconnect, reload the website and see if the error is gone.

• For a more in-depth reset, you can try and clear your network configuration files. To do this, open Finder, click Go > Go to Folder in the top menu bar. Then paste in this path: /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/

• Next look for files named preferences.plist and NetworkInterfaces.plist, and Delete them.

• Then restart your Mac. Your computer will reboot and automatically create fresh network settings, fixing the error.

Fix “DNS Server Not Responding” (For Website Owners)

If you’re a website owner and get an uptime monitor alert, or run into the “DNS Server Not Responding” error when trying to load your pages, this means something is not right with your domain’s configuration or your hosting provider.

Fixing this error requires a quick check of domain and hosting settings. Let me walk you through some quick fixes that you can implement to get your site back online.

1. Check for DNS Propagation

If you bought a new domain name, changed the web host, or updated DNS settings, your site might just be in the middle of the DNS propagation process. This process can take from just a few hours up to 48 hours.

When you make changes to your domain, it takes time for the updates to propagate across all the different servers around the world. And during this period, you might see the DNS error because the local servers haven’t received the updated information yet.

To check if this is the case, you can use a free DNS Checker like whatsmydns.net. Type in your website URL and if you see green checkmarks and red crosses, your site is still propagating.

Give it some time to complete and then check your site again to see if the error is gone.

2. Verify Your Nameservers

Nameservers connect your domain name (like cloudways.com) to the server where your website’s files are stored. If they’re not pointed correctly, the internet will have no idea how to load your site.

To fix this, log into the account where you purchased your domain name from. Look for the DNS management or Nameservers section.

Here, make sure the nameservers listed exactly match the ones provided by your web hosting provider. If there’s a mismatch or nothing is filled, update the nameservers and save your changes.

Give the propagation process a few hours to complete before checking your site for the error.

3. Check Your A Records

Similar to nameservers, DNS records need to also match what is provided by your hosting provider for the site to load. The most important one to check is “A Record“.

I say this because the A Record points your domain name to the exact IP address of your web hosting server.

To check if your DNS records are set up properly, log into your hosting control panel or your DNS manager. Then open your DNS zone editor and find the A Record for your main domain.

Make sure the IP address listed matches the IP address given to you by your hosting provider. Even a mismatch of a single digit can break the connection.

If you are hosting your website with Cloudways, you can find your Public IP inside the Server Management panel. Just copy and paste that IP into your DNS manager, and make sure it perfectly matches your A record.

4. Look for Provider Outages or an Expired Domain

Sometimes the issue can be completely out of your hands to fix. If your hosting provider or your DNS management service is experiencing an outage, their servers won’t respond to requests, taking your site down.

To check if this is triggering the error, visit your provider’s status page to see if they’re currently fixing an outage. We have a status page that we constantly update for our customers so they’re always aware of any maintenance that is planned or in progress.

Also, another thing worth double checking is your domain name expiration status. If your domain registration expired, your registrar will stop routing your DNS traffic, triggering the error for anyone trying to visit your site.

5. Protect Against DNS Attacks

Sometimes a DNS server stops responding when it is maliciously being overwhelmed. DDoS attacks can specifically target your DNS infrastructure, sending fake traffic until it crashes. This shows real visitors the “not responding” error instead of your site.

If you think your site is being targeted by a DDoS attack, the best fix is to route your traffic through a Web Application Firewall (WAF) or a DNS provider that can automatically filter out junk traffic and keep your site online.

If you are hosting your website with Cloudways, your server is protected by our built-in Web Application Firewall (WAF) by default. Our server-level defense monitors your incoming traffic in real-time to identify and block malicious bots, DoS attacks, and high-risk IP addresses before they can overwhelm your server resources.

6. Rule Out Upstream DNS Provider Outages

I touched on this briefly in step four, but it is worth highlighting on its own. Even if your web hosting server is perfectly healthy, the company managing your DNS records (your upstream DNS provider) might be experiencing an outage.

If you use a third-party service just for DNS management, go ahead and check their specific status page. If they are down, your only option is to wait until they resolve the outage.

This is why switching to a dedicated DNS network is an easy way to prevent routing failures.`

How Cloudways Prevents the “DNS Server Not Responding” Error

Dealing with DNS errors is frustrating. Pinpointing the actual root cause takes time, not to mention implementing the fix.

If you want to prevent these issues from happening in the first place, Cloudways offers several built-in tools and add-ons designed to keep your site online and secure.

Integrated Cloudflare Enterprise Add-on

To protect against the DDoS attacks I mentioned earlier, we offer a managed Cloudflare Enterprise add-on. Routing traffic through Cloudflare’s edge network helps prevent sudden server crashes by offering:

• Intelligent Web Application Firewall (WAF): This filters out malicious threats and bot traffic automatically before they even reach your server.
• Enterprise-Grade DDoS Protection: Blocks large-scale DDoS attacks across layers 3, 4, and 7 before they cause any damage.

DNS Made Easy Add-on

Like I mentioned earlier, a crashed DNS provider can take your website completely offline for your visitors. But our DNS Made Easy add-on actually fixes this. It provides two main benefits:

• Faster Load Times: It speeds up the time it takes for browsers to look up your site, helping pages load faster.
• Instant DNS Propagation: Typical DNS propagation can take up to 48 hours to take effect fully, but with DNS Made Easy add-on, changes apply immediately instead of making you wait.

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24/7 Automated Server Monitoring

To help you spot server issues before they turn into full outages, Cloudways offers real-time monitoring out of the box:

• 16+ Server Metrics: You can monitor CPU, RAM, and bandwidth usage directly from your Cloudways dashboard. If anything looks unusual, you can quickly pinpoint and fix it.

• CloudwaysBot Alerts: Receive automatic notifications through email or Slack whenever performance metrics drop.
• New Relic Integration: We offer built-in support for New Relic so you can integrate it and pinpoint exactly what is causing a bottleneck.

Cloudways AI Copilot

Even with monitoring in place, finding the exact root of an error can take time. To speed up the diagnosing and fixing process, we offer Cloudways AI Copilot. It acts as your AI powered server assistant by offering:

• AI Insights: Analyzes your server metrics automatically to identify issues.
• 1-Click SmartFix: Provides smart recommendations and a “SmartFix” button to automatically resolve common server configuration issues.

Wrapping Up

The “DNS Server Not Responding” error is a frustrating issue, whether you are trying to browse the web or trying to get your own website back online.

For regular internet users, quick fixes like flushing your DNS cache or updating your device settings is usually all it takes to get rid of the error.

But for website owners, solutions can range from fixing misconfigured domain records to tracking down underlying server issues. The ultimate solution, however, should be to automatically prevent outages from happening in the first place.

That is exactly why Cloudways offers proactive tools to keep your site always online. Instead of waiting for a server crash, Cloudways lets you protect your site with built-in 24/7 automated monitoring, alongside powerful add-ons like our Cloudflare Enterprise, fault-tolerant DNS Made Easy, and AI Copilot.