Once in a while Windows behaves strangely and stops resolving or opening up websites you want to visit. This doesn’t happen very often, but when it does, flushing the Windows DNS resolver cache might help in this situation. A DNS resolver is a temporary database that contains websites and other network resources that you have visited or opened on your computer. When you first visit a new website or a site you haven’t visited before, Windows, sends a request for the site’s details, including unique IP addresses. These records are kept temporarily in the DNS resolver so that the next time you visit the same site you visited previously, your computer will already have a record in its database. This help speeds up the process of your computer connecting to the websites you want to revisit. Sometimes, this temporary database gets corrupted and stops processing correctly. If that happens, you may want to clear out its temporary cache of all the records so that it can start rebuilding with new records. To get started with flushing the Windows DNS resolver cache, follow the steps below:
Flush Windows DNS Cache via the command line
The quickest way to flush or clear the Windows DNS cache is via the Windows command prompt. Open the Command prompt and run the command below to do so. You can use the Windows search box at the bottom left to search for Command Prompt. When the command prompt opens, type the commands below to flush the Windows DNS cache.
Flush Windows DNS Cache via PowerShell
You can also use the Windows PowerShell console to flush its DNS cache. Use the search box to locate PowerShell, then type the commands below to flush its cache.
Clear Host Resolver Cache in Microsoft Edge
After clearing Windows DNS cache, you should also clear the host resolve cache in your browser, especially when you’re having trouble visiting websites online. To clear the cache in the Microsoft Edge browser, open it and type the line below inside the address box, and press Enter. Click the button to clear the host resolver cache.
Clear Host Resolver Cache in Chrome
If you’re using the Google Chrome browser, then type the line below instead. Clear the resolver cache and you’re done.
Clear Host Resolver Cache in Firefox
In Firefox, type this: That should help resolve many DNS caching issues in Windows. Conclusion: This post showed you how to flush or clear the Windows DNS resolver cache in Windows. If you find any error above, please use the comment form below to report.
