Troubleshoot Browsing Issues by Reloading the DNS Client Cache in Vista
Have you ever had an issue where you continually get DNS errors while trying to browse, but another computer on the same network is working just fine? The problem is most likely that you need to reload your DNS cache on that machine.
You can tackle this problem two ways, first by just clearing the cache, but also by restarting the DNS client service, which handles caching of DNS lookups.
Clear DNS Cache
Open up an administrator mode command prompt by right-clicking on the Command Prompt in the start menu and choosing “Run as Administrator”
Now type in the following command:
ipconfig /flushdns
This usually clears up any issues that might be occurring. Note that if you are using Firefox you should probably also close and reopen, because Firefox has a DNS cache as well.
Restart DNS Service from Command Line
Open up an administrator mode command prompt as above, and then type in the following commands:
net stop dnscache
net start dnscache
I usually use the command prompt for this, since I already have it open for the previous step.
Restart DNS Service from Services
Open up Services in the control panel, or by just typing services into the Start menu search box. Once there, find the “DNS Client” service and click the Restart Service button.
By this point I’d hope that things are working again. Note that these instructions should also work for XP.
Update: Reader Fred wrote in to mention that you can also use the “Repair” option in XP or Vista. Just go to the network connections list in control panel, find the adapter and choose Repair for XP or Diagnose for Vista.
Daily Email Updates
You can get our how-to articles in your inbox each day for free. Just enter your name and email below:
FWIW, I did find that these steps worked for XP.
Thanks for the information. It worked on my pc. I like how you presented the information with the images as well. I am a very visual learner and this helped greatly. I bookmarked your site in my del.icio.us account.
Thankyou, I was frustrated with vista all week but your tip fixed it.
Hi,
I have been facing some issues in browsing some websites. When i try to login to gmail, yahoomail, orkut, only the login screen comes. Once i enter the login credentials the next page doesnt open. Also when i try to google, only the first screen comes wherein we enter the search item. but the search results dont come. I know the internet is working fine becoz i am able to browse some other websites. On the other hand, once i start google talk, and if i try to access gmail from there, it works but not through the usual web login. I have tried, IE, Firefox and also Opera. The issue is same in all the browsers.Can anyone help me out’?
thanks,
Bala.
@Bala. Are u using Avira Premium with activated Webguard? If so, uninstall the webguard
i have the same problem as bala, i cant open yahoo! or Google but msn.com is fine. its really annoying, can access some websites but not others…..i tried IE, Firefox same result. i cleared cache, deleted history, cookies etc no difference. i even turned firewall off and lowered the security but with same results….. please help. ricard
Thanks for the info. net stop|start dnscache is much quicker than using services.msc.
This is a great suggestion. Its quick and simple, and the commands work just fine directly pasted into a batch on Vista. Its also much quicker than the standard Network Repair, which sometimes fails to resolve the issue. – Thanks!
You might also like to know that after flushing the Windows cache with this method, you can flush the Firefox DNS cache in many versions by using the File Menu to toggle Offline mode on then off. Saves you the inconvenience of loosing any sessions during a browser restart.
Also, in a similar article on Lifehacker, commenters have mentioned that OpenDns can offer an alternative service in case the root cause is an ISP with dodgy DNS servers.
I had a Web Site Not Found issue when entering a URL in my browser. If I entered the website IP address instead then I would get the web page. I tried a lot of things including the ones mentioned in this article and still had the problem. I could also ping to the IP address but not to a URL. I tried configuring to other Earthlink DNS IPs. I tried a restore to a time when I wasn’t having this problem. I turned off my Norton 360 Online Firewall and turned on my windows firewall. I tried tracert, pathping, netsh winsock reset, ipconfig /release, ipconfig /flushdns, ipconfig registerdns, ipconfig /renew. Eventually, I tried without any firewall at all and everything worked great except I was vulnerable to viruses. So I turned my Norton firewall back on and found that in my Firewall Program Configuration svchost was blocked. I changed it to “allow” svchost and now everything is working great. I don’t know how that got blocked.
First I would like to say this is not the first time I have used your website for information and I find it very helpful. THANK YOU! Right now I am experiencing a problem with the DNS cache situation. I have tried to flush the dns however it tells me Could not flush the DNS Cache: function failed during execution. I have reciently installed Kasperksy 2009 on both of our computers and thought maybe this is the problem though I really do not know where to start. Unfortunately I am not all that computer savay, but am learning as I go. Any insight you can offer would be terrific! Thanks for your time!
Man u have the Best guide after all… i have been searching for solution to fix this troubleshoot of not able me to access to Microsoft.com . however all solutions are weak, some people recommend me buy Anti Virus software, Some suggest me to Turn off my Modem, Restart the Qwest.
And u’re guide is the only that solve the problem !!
High Respect to u… all The GEEk !!
Thx a million !!
Adios–
Have no sound when i go to internet explorer