--- title: "DNS Server Not Responding: What It Means and How to Fix It" description: "DNS server not responding means your device asked for a site's address and got no reply. Find out if it's the router, the provider or one device, and fix it." url: https://proxynet.io/blog/dns-server-not-responding date: 2026-11-11 author: "Acar Diveroli" category: "Tutorial" lang: en --- # DNS Server Not Responding: What It Means and How to Fix It The Wi-Fi icon says you are connected, yet no page opens. The Windows troubleshooter reports that the DNS server is not responding, while your phone on mobile data loads the same sites without trouble. The sites are fine; what fails is the step before every connection, looking up the site's address. Below: what the message means, a two-minute test that tells the computer, the router and your internet provider apart, the fixes for Windows 11 and 10, Mac, Android and iPhone, and the role of VPNs and proxies. > **Note: Short answer** > > "DNS server not responding" means your device asked its DNS server for a site's address and no answer came back in time. The DNS server turns a name such as `example.com` into the numeric IP address of the server behind it; at home it is usually your router, which passes the question on to your internet provider. Restart the router first, then check whether other devices fail too. If only one device fails, look at its VPN, proxy and manually entered DNS settings; if every device still fails after the restart, your provider's DNS or line is down. ## What does "DNS server not responding" mean? It means a name lookup went out and nothing came back. Before a browser can open a site, it needs the site's IP address, the number computers use to find each other, and it asks a **DNS resolver**, a server whose only job is to answer that question. [Microsoft's DNS troubleshooting guide](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/troubleshoot/windows-client/networking/troubleshoot-dns-client-resolution-issues) describes the failure plainly: when the DNS server isn't reachable, the client receives no response and the query times out. "Not responding" is not "no such site": the server did not call the name wrong, it said nothing. Your line may be working while the step that finds addresses is not, and because Windows first checks its cache of recent answers, a site you opened a minute ago may still load. ## Where do you see the message? Mostly in the Windows network troubleshooter: on Windows 11 the Network and Internet troubleshooter in the **Get Help** app, on Windows 10 **Settings > Network & Internet > Status > Network troubleshooter**. Its report names the DNS server as the problem; the exact sentence differs between Windows versions. Chrome, Edge and other Chromium browsers show an error page with a code at the bottom. Chromium's [source code](https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromium/src/+/HEAD/components/error_page/common/net_error_info.h) describes `DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_BAD_CONFIG` as "The DNS configuration is wrong, or the servers are down or broken" and `DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_NO_INTERNET` as no internet connection at all. If only one site fails with `DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_NXDOMAIN`, the DNS server did answer: the name does not exist, a case covered in [dns_probe_finished_nxdomain: What It Means and How to Fix It](/blog/dns-probe-finished-nxdomain). Phones rarely show the words; an iPhone may say "No Internet Connection" under the network's name. ## How does a DNS lookup fail? A lookup passes three places, and it can stall at any of them: 1. **Your device** checks its cache, then asks the DNS server it was given. The router normally hands out that address; a VPN app, a security suite or a manual setting can replace it. 2. **The router** answers from memory or passes the question to the provider's resolver. A hung router can keep the Wi-Fi up while this part stops. 3. **The provider's resolver** finds the answer and sends it back. 4. **Your device waits.** With no reply after a couple of seconds, it asks again, tries the next DNS server on its list and gives up. Then the error appears. ## Is it your device, your router or your provider? Two minutes and a second device answer this. Try another phone or tablet on the same Wi-Fi, then your phone on mobile data, which uses your carrier's DNS servers instead of your router's. Finally, restart the router and modem and wait a few minutes. | What you try | What you see | Where the problem is | |---|---|---| | Another device on the same Wi-Fi | It works | This computer or phone | | Another device on the same Wi-Fi | It fails too | The router or the provider | | Phone on mobile data | Sites open | Your home network, not the sites | | Router and modem restarted | Everything works again | The router had hung | | Router and modem restarted | Every device still fails | The provider's DNS or line | ## How do you fix it on Windows 11 and 10? Open a site after each step; most cases end within the first three. The menu paths come from Microsoft's page on [fixing Wi-Fi connection issues in Windows](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/fix-wi-fi-connection-issues-in-windows-9424a1f7-6a3b-65a6-4d78-7f07eee84d2c). 1. **Restart the router and modem.** Unplug both, wait at least 30 seconds, plug the modem in and wait for its lights to stop blinking, then the router. 2. **Restart the computer.** This also empties Windows' cache of recent answers, failed ones included. 3. **Quit the VPN and check for a proxy.** Disconnect the VPN app completely, then open **Settings > Network & internet > Proxy** and turn off any manual proxy setup you do not use. 4. **Undo DNS addresses typed in by hand.** A public DNS server tried once, or one an app left behind, keeps failing long after. Set the connection's DNS back to automatic; [What Is DNS and How Do You Change Your DNS Server?](/blog/what-is-dns) shows the screens for Windows 11 and 10, the switch to a public resolver and the command that clears the DNS cache. 5. **Forget the Wi-Fi network and rejoin.** **Settings > Network & internet > Wi-Fi > Manage known networks**, select the network, **Forget**, then reconnect with the password. 6. **Pause security software for one test.** Microsoft's DNS guide names firewalls and security products that drop DNS traffic as a cause. Turn the suite's firewall off for a minute, test, and turn it back on. 7. **Reinstall the network adapter driver.** Search for **Device Manager**, expand **Network adapters**, right-click your adapter and select **Uninstall device**. Tick **Attempt to remove the driver for this device**, select **Uninstall** and restart; Windows reinstalls the driver by itself. 8. **Network reset, last.** **Settings > Network & internet > Advanced network settings > Network reset**, then **Reset now** and **Yes** (Windows 10: **Settings > Network & Internet > Status > Network reset**). It reinstalls every network adapter with default settings, so VPN apps may need setting up again. ### On a Mac Choose **Apple menu > System Settings**, click **Network**, select your service (such as Wi-Fi), click **Details**, then **DNS**. Select addresses you added for a test, or that an app put there, and click the remove button (–). In the same window, **Proxies** shows any proxy that is on; turn off the ones you do not use. Restart the Mac and test once with VPN and security apps quit. ### On Android Check **Private DNS** first, Android's encrypted DNS setting. If a provider's hostname is entered there and that service stops answering, nothing opens on Wi-Fi or mobile data. Open **Settings > Network & internet > Private DNS**, choose **Automatic** and tap **Save**, as [Google's Android help](https://support.google.com/android/answer/9654714?hl=en) describes; if your phone maker moved it, search Settings for "Private DNS". Then pause VPN and ad-blocking apps, and forget the network: **Settings > Network & internet > Internet**, touch and hold the saved network, tap **Forget** and join again. ### On iPhone Go to **Settings > Wi-Fi** and tap the info button next to the network. Under **Configure DNS**, go back to the automatic setting unless you entered addresses on purpose, and check that **HTTP Proxy** is off unless you use one. Both apply to that Wi-Fi network only. Then turn off VPN and security apps; [Apple's Wi-Fi troubleshooting page](https://support.apple.com/en-us/111786) suggests uninstalling them for a test. The last step, **Settings > General > Transfer or Reset iPhone > Reset > Reset Network Settings**, also removes saved Wi-Fi passwords and VPN settings. ## Advanced: ask two DNS servers with nslookup You can skip this section. `nslookup`, built into Windows, sends one DNS question and prints the reply, so it shows whether a DNS server answers at all. Type `cmd` in the Start menu, open **Command Prompt** and run it with a test name such as `example.com`. Without a server address, it asks the DNS server Windows normally uses: ```bash nslookup example.com ``` ```text Server: UnKnown Address: fe80::1 Non-authoritative answer: Name: example.com Addresses: 2606:4700:10::6814:179a 2606:4700:10::ac42:93f3 104.20.23.154 172.66.147.243 ``` That is our Windows 11 test machine. `Server: UnKnown` only means the router has no DNS name of its own; `fe80::1` is its address inside the home network, and the addresses at the bottom prove it answers. A public resolver's address at the end asks that server instead; `nslookup example.com 1.1.1.1` gave this on the same connection: ```text DNS request timed out. timeout was 2 seconds. Server: UnKnown Address: 1.1.1.1 DNS request timed out. timeout was 2 seconds. DNS request timed out. timeout was 2 seconds. DNS request timed out. timeout was 2 seconds. DNS request timed out. timeout was 2 seconds. *** Request to UnKnown timed-out ``` This is "not responding" up close: the question went out and nothing came back within two seconds, four times over. Here the router answered while `1.1.1.1` did not, a reminder that a public resolver does not answer on every network. Read your own results this way. If the default server times out and a public one answers, the router or the provider's DNS is at fault, and switching resolvers is a reasonable fix. If both time out, a firewall, a VPN or a dead connection blocks DNS. If both answer but the browser still fails, check its extensions, proxy and secure DNS setting. ## Can a VPN or proxy cause this error? A VPN often can; a proxy rarely does. A VPN app sets its own DNS server while connected. If that server stops answering, or the app crashes and leaves its setting behind, every lookup fails until you disconnect or reinstall it. With an HTTP or HTTPS proxy, the browser hands the site's name to the proxy, which does the lookup, so a broken DNS server on your side can stay hidden in the browser while other apps fail. If the proxy itself is set by name, though, finding it still uses your own DNS server. A proxy that is down shows a different error, such as `ERR_PROXY_CONNECTION_FAILED`, covered in [Proxy Server Not Responding](/blog/proxy-server-not-responding). With SOCKS5, the app decides. Apps with a remote DNS option send the name to the proxy, so lookup and traffic leave from the same place; if you route apps through a [SOCKS5 Proxy](https://proxynet.io/socks5-proxy), turn that option on. Still, no proxy repairs a broken DNS setting on your own device. ## What if your internet provider is the problem? Then there is nothing to repair at home. The signs: every device on your Wi-Fi fails, a router restart does not help, and phones work on mobile data. If the router's internet light is off or red, the line is down; if not, the provider's DNS servers probably are, and its status page or support line will confirm it. During an outage that hits only DNS, a public resolver on the computer or router can get you back online, if it answers on your network. That is what changing DNS is for: a broken or slow resolver, or more private lookups. It does not change your IP address. ## Where people run into it - After a power cut, when the router is up before the provider's line is. - On a laptop closed while a work VPN was still connected. - After uninstalling a VPN or security suite that had changed DNS settings. - On an Android phone whose Private DNS points to a service that no longer answers. ## Common mistakes - **Changing DNS before restarting the router.** If the router has hung, a new resolver on one computer only hides the problem there. - **Leaving a dead manual entry.** A DNS address typed in for a test keeps failing once that service stops answering. - **Disabling IPv6 for good.** Forum answers often suggest it, but Microsoft does not recommend it, because some Windows components might stop working. - **Starting with a network reset.** It wipes saved settings for a problem a restart often fixes. - **Installing "DNS fixer" apps.** They change the settings you are cleaning up, and an unknown DNS server sees every name you look up. ## Decision guide | Situation | What to do | |---|---| | Every device at home fails | Restart router and modem; then contact the provider | | Only one computer fails | VPN, proxy, manual DNS, security software on it | | Fails on Wi-Fi, works on mobile data | Router or provider; restart the router first | | Android fails on every network | Private DNS back to Automatic | | iPhone fails on one Wi-Fi network | Configure DNS for that network back to automatic | | Fails only while the VPN is on | The VPN's DNS; update or reinstall the app | | Default DNS times out, a public one answers | Use the public resolver | | Nothing else helped on Windows | Driver reinstall, then network reset | ## Frequently asked questions ### What does "DNS server not responding" mean? Your device asked its DNS server for a site's address and got no reply in time, so no site can be found even though Wi-Fi is connected. ### Is it my router or my internet provider? Restart the router and modem and test again after a few minutes. If sites open, the router had hung; if every device still fails, the provider's line or DNS is down. ### Should I switch to 1.1.1.1 or 8.8.8.8? Only if a test shows that your current DNS server is failing and the new one answers on your network. Both are large public resolvers; take both addresses from the same service and note the old settings. ### Why does it happen on only one computer? Because something on it differs: a VPN, a proxy setting, a manual DNS address, security software or an old driver. If only Chrome fails, check **Settings > Privacy and security > Security > Use secure DNS**: with a custom provider, Chrome does not fall back to unencrypted lookups when that provider stops answering. ### Why does it work on mobile data but not on Wi-Fi? Because mobile data normally uses your carrier's DNS servers, not your router's. The fault is in the home network: the router, its DNS settings or the provider behind it. ### Can a VPN or proxy cause this error? A VPN often can, because it brings its own DNS server; quit the VPN completely and test. A browser proxy rarely causes this message, since a dead proxy shows a proxy error instead. ## Summary "DNS server not responding" means the address lookup got no answer: the site is usually fine, the step that finds it is not. Test another device and mobile data, restart the router, then clean up the failing device: VPN, proxy, manual DNS, security software, driver, network reset last. If every device fails after a restart, the provider has to fix it. To see which proxy protocol handles lookups where, start with [our proxy services](/proxy).