Fix ‘DNS_Probe_Finished_Nxdomain Error’ Issue in Chrome Browser – Guide

For those who work with WordPress regularly, CMS-specific errors such as the white screen of death or database connection errors are quite common occurrences. But another subset of errors you are likely to encounter are those related to your internet connection and DNS. A very common error that Google Chrome users get when trying to navigate to a web page is “This site cannot be reached – Server IP address could not be found” along with DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_NXDOMAIN. This can be downright frustrating as you suddenly can’t navigate to your site or maybe even anywhere else. The reason for DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_NXDOMAIN is usually due to a misconfiguration or problem with your DNS. DNS is short for Domain Name System, which helps direct internet traffic by associating domain names with real web servers. Essentially, it takes a human-friendly request – a domain name like kinsta.com – and translates it into a computer-friendly server IP address – like 216.3.128.12. When a user enters a URL into their web browser, DNS starts connecting that URL to the IP address of the real server. This is called DNS name resolution, and it involves a DNS resource that queries multiple nameservers to find a server’s actual IP address. If DNS cannot resolve the domain name or address, you may receive DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_NXDOMAIN error. The NXDOMAIN part stands for Non-Existing Domain. Read more about DNS and how it works.

Fix DNS_Probe_Finished_Nxdomain Error in Google Chrome

Make sure you entered the correct URL

Check the URL for any typos you may have accidentally made while entering it into your browser. If you’re sure there are no errors, it’s time to move on to the next method.

Restart your computer or device

Another simple but sometimes effective way to fix this error is to restart your computer. If you are getting DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_NXDOMAIN response from a tablet or your mobile phone try turning it off and on again. If you have a lot of apps and browser tabs open this can be annoying. So feel free to save this solution until you’ve exhausted all other options. However, keep in mind that for many of these fixes, you will at the very least need to restart your browser.

Reset Chrome’s Flags

If you installed new features or extensions in your browser, may have messed with your Chrome settings. Sometimes this can also interfere with DNS settings causing error messages to appear up. So it’s a smart idea to reset Chrome’s flags back to default settings. To do this, type chrome://flags in the browser bar and press Enter. On the Experiments screen, click the Reset All button button. Then restart your browser and try to access the site again.

Temporarily disable your antivirus or VPN software

VPNs and antivirus software can sometimes conflict with DNS server and network settings. So, if you have one of them installed on your computer, this could be the source of the DNS error message. The process of disabling your antivirus or VPN software depends on which apps or tools you are using. However, you can usually do this by locating the software among the apps and programs on your device and right-clicking on it. Look for the option to ‘disable’ or ‘uninstall’.

Clear Chrome Browser Cache

Another common and effective way to fix DNS errors in Chrome is to clear your browser cache. The easiest way to do this is to open a new tab and select the three vertical dots in the top right, followed by More Tools > Clear Browsing Data. In the window that opens, on the Advanced tab, make sure that the boxes next to Cookies and other site data and Cached images and files are selected. When finished, click on the Clear Data button button. Restart your browser and visit the site again.

Clear your local DNS cache

If clearing your browser’s cache did not trick, you can also try flushing the local DNS cache. This clears the stored IP addresses of previously visited websites. This is something you can do on Windows or Mac devices. However, the steps to do this are a little different. If clearing the DNS cache does not resolve the error, the next method you can try is to flush and renew the IP address. This is a bit similar to flushing the DNS cache, only it goes a little deeper.

Release and renew your IP address

Whether you’re using Windows or Mac, this will involve running commands from your device. However, the application you use will be different (Command Prompt for Windows or Terminal for Mac), as will the commands.

Change DNS servers

By default, your Internet Service Provider (ISP) automatically assigns your DNS server. However, temporarily changing it to another DNS server such as Google’s public DNS may be the trick you need to solve this problem once and for all. Again, the details of this method depend on the device and operating system (OS) you are using.

Restart DNS Client Service

When you create a DNS server on a Windows device, DNS runs as a service to cache and resolve domain names. So another way to fix DNS error on Windows is by restarting DNS Client service. There are a few ways to do this. We’ll walk you through both in the next section.

Final note

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