Microsoft Windows, Windows terminal commands

How to flush the DNS cache in Windows 11

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The IPconfig command is a super useful tool in the Windows terminal. It can give you all the info you need about your computer’s network adapters, but it can also do other cool things like renew your DHCP lease or clear your DNS cache.

Note: Quickly flushing the DNS cache in Windows. Can be very useful when configuring a local DNS server on a home network. So if you would like to find out more about setting up a DNS server please take a look at our video on Installing and configuring a DNS server on a Synology NAS.

What is DNS?

DNS, short for Domain Name System, is like a translator that helps computers understand domain names. For instance, it converts the domain name mydoodads.com into the IP address of the server where our website is hosted. This then allows computers to easily find the website.

The DNS cache

When you want to connect to the internet or load information, your computer first asks a DNS server for the address. But instead of asking again and again, your computer saves the information it gets from the DNS server so it can use it later. This way, your computer can load resources faster.

Why Flush the cache?

But if your computer’s DNS cache gets corrupted or outdated, it might start having trouble loading the internet or a web page. That’s where IPconfig comes in! It’s like a quick fix to clear your computer’s DNS cache and hopefully resolve the issue.

Quick reference notes:
  • In order to open a terminal window. From within Windows, select the Start button
  • Now in the search field type terminal and press enter
  • To see what DNS settings have been stored into your computer cache, type:
ipconfig /displaydns
  • Now in order to flush your DNS cache. If we type: 
ipconfig /flushdns
  • After pressing enter. We will receive conformation that we have, “Successfully flushed the DNS Resolver cache.”
  • If we now type:
exit
  • The terminal window will close, and you can once again try to load a web resource.
Reference materials:

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