
DNS, short for Domain Name System, represents the unique address assigned to a system within the internet network. As is common, you may be experiencing a frustrating situation in which you enter a website’s URL and after trying to connect to the site, you get a response on the screen saying, 10“DNS server not responding.”
The immediate problem could be that your device’s connection to the internet might not be working. But there are other reasons too for this non-responsive Domain Name System server, and it is essential that you keep yourself informed of how to handle a typical situation like this.
A step-by-step solution is being attempted here with particular reference to systems being run on the Windows 10 OS.
Please note that the issue may not get resolved through one single solution, but a kind of trial and error method until you are back in action is listed below.
If It Is the DNS Server Address That Is Faulty…
1. For this, click on the Windows key and the “R” key simultaneously.
2. Enter “control” in the box and press the Enter key or click “OK” on the box itself.
3. This command will open the All the Control Panel Items page.
4. From the list, select the Network Sharing Center option.
5. On the left, you will find a highlighted change adapter settings command; click on it.
6. Here, you must make a choice from the different modes of connectivity to the internet, according to what type of connection you have; this could be Wi-Fi or Ethernet or other connections.
7. As you click on them, there will be a drop-down menu in which Properties will be the last item; click on it.
8. On the next window, you will see a number of options. You can choose TCP/IPv4 and click on Properties at the bottom.
9. This will open another window with several options; you will have to tick two boxes here; one that says, “Obtain IP address automatically” and the other “Obtain DNS address automatically.”
10. Remember to click OK at the bottom to confirm your choices.
11. Now the Properties window will be still open; on that, choose the IP Version 6 (TCP/IPv6) and then Properties.
12. Here, repeat step 10, by clicking on the radio buttons “Obtain an IPv6 address automatically” and “Obtain DNS address automatically.”
13. Press “Ok” to get out of this dialogue box.
If the Router And/Or the Modem Is the Culprit…
In many cases, malfunction or a minor hitch in the router or modem you have installed to connect your device could be the reason you are getting the “DNS server not responding” error while trying to connect to the intended web address.
For this, the simplest way is to switch the device off for a few seconds or minutes and then try powering it on again. This may resolve the issue and you could be back to business as usual again. If everything else is good and even this step has not solved the issue, you may have to call the customer service line of your service provider to take a look at the router and, if needed, change to a new one.
Try to Change the IP Configuration Settings
Since the IP address is critical to ensuring connectivity works smoothly, you may try and reconfigure the IP address through a series of steps as below:
1. On Windows 10, the Search box is at the bottom next to the Start button; on this, type “Command Prompt” and from the menu choose to run as an administrator.
2. Hit “Yes” when the User Account Control asks you to confirm.
3. This will open a black window and on this, you will have to type in four lines as below and then press “Enter” when you have finished typing each line:
- ipconfig/flushdns
- ipconfig/registerdns
- ipconfig/release
- ipconfig/renew
This should be enough to reset the DNS, and if you go back to your browser and try visiting the sites you could not access earlier, you may find the Domain Name System server issue no longer crops up.
Other Solutions
Apart from these frequently encountered errors and the ones which can be resolved without seeking any outside support, there can be other reasons for such “DNS server not responding” situations as well.
These could relate to your network adapter driver needing an update or reinstallation. This can be handled at your end too by choosing the Driver Easy, a download available that can help you with making the changes needed to make your system’s drivers up-to-date. This solution automatically scans the drives, identifies the version and does the upgrade. You can choose this option if none of the other solutions outlined above give the results to your satisfaction.
One of the other reasons identified by experts is that a Windows update may interfere with the DNS settings. The suggestion is to disable peer-to-peer update downloads to the Windows OS that Microsoft keeps posting.
This modification in settings is done through the “Update & Security” section in the Windows Settings. Choose how updates are delivered; select the option to “PCs on my local network” and not the “updates from more than one place” option. That will prevent the peer-to-peer download of Windows Updates and the Domain Name System server issue would have got resolved by making this change. These are being suggested in the end since they may not happen to every computer or on every network, but just to make sure all the options available are pointed out and you use them all if you get stuck.
That said, the first few solutions above should generally take care of it.