chrome://net-internals/#dns: How Does It Work and How to Fix It?

What Is DNS on Windows, macOS, Android, iPhone, or iPad?

The full name of DNS is Domain Name System. On Windows, it is Windows Domain Name System. It is the hierarchical and distributed naming system used to identify computers reachable through the Internet or other Internet Protocol (IP) networks. With it, you can convert a human-readable website to a machine-readable IP address. The Domain Name System has been an essential component of the functionality of the Internet since 1985.

DNS enables web browsers to connect and send the data to the Content Delivery Network (CDN), allowing you to access the content on a website.

To ensure that you can browse websites normally, your DNS should work without any issues. If you can’t access a website, one possible reason is that the DNS entry has been changed. To solve the issue, you can try to clear or flush the DNS cache in Chrome, Firefox, Opera, Edge, Safiri, or another web browser.

chrome://flags: Try Experimental Features & Activate Debug Tools

In this post, we will talk about chrome://flags, which can help you activate additional debugging tools or try out new or experimental features in Chrome.

Read More

What Is //net-internals/#dns?

The //net-internals/#dns is also known as the Net-internals. It is a NetLog event stream visualizer. With it, you can view both the real-time log or load post-dated NetLog dumps.

Well then, what is a NetLog dump? It is a log file that saves the browser’s network-related events and state. In Chrome, the NetLog can be used to troubleshoot and debug DNS issues and other related problems like HSTS issues.

//net-internals/#dns can work on chromium browsers like Chrome, Opera, Microsoft Edge, and more. That is, you can enter [browser name]://net-internals/#dns into the address bar of your chromium browser to clear host cache and then switch to [browser name]://net-internals/#sockets to flush socket pools. This can help clear DNS cache on your Chromium browser.

How Does chrome://net-internals/#dns Work to Clear the DNS Cache in Chrome?

If you use Google Chrome as your web browser on Windows, macOS, Linux, or another operating system, you can use chrome://net-internals/#dns to clear the DNS cache in Chrome.

Step 1: Open Chrome.

Step 2: Copy chrome://net-internals/#dns to the address bar in Chrome and press Enter to open the page.

Step 3: Click the Clear host cache button.

Step 4: Restart Chrome and go to this page chrome://net-internals/#sockets to flush the socket pools.

Using chrome://net-internals/#dns to clear the DNS cache in Chrome works on Windows, macOS, Linux, Apple OS X, Android, and iPhone/iPad.

chrome://net-internals/#dns Mobile

You can also use chrome://net-internals/#dns to clear the DNS cache in Chrome on your Android phone, iPhone, or iPad. The following two screenshots are the chrome://net-internals/#dns and chrome://net-internals/#sockets pages on a mobile phone.

You can enter the chrome://net-internals/#dns page to clear host cache. 

Then, you need to restart Chrome and go to the chrome://net-internals/#sockets page to flush socket pools.

What if chrome://net-internals/#dns Doesn’t Work?

Some users have reported that chrome://net-internals/#dns doesn’t work to fix DNS issues on their devices. If you also encounter this issue, do you know how to fix chrome //net-internals/#dns?

If chrome://net-internals/#dns no longer works on your device, you can use another way to flush DNS. For example, you can restart the DNS service, reset Chrome flags, or disable VPN to resolve the problem.

Fix 1: Flush DNS Using Command Prompt

If chrome://net-internals/#dns is not working to clear the DNS cache in Chrome, you can use Command Prompt to flush DNS on Windows.

Step 1: Run CMD as administrator.

Step 2: Type ipconfig /release and press Enter.

Step 3: Type ipconfig /flushdns and press Enter to flush DNS.

Step 4: Type ipconfig /renew and press Enter to renew your IP address.

Fix 2: Restart the DNS Service

You can also restart the DNS service to solve chrome://net-internals/#dns not working.

Step 1: Press Win + R to open Run.

Step 2: Type services.msc and press Enter to open the Services interface.

Step 3: Scroll down to find DNS Client, then right-click it and select Restart.

If the Restart option is greyed out, you need to open Command Prompt as administrator and run the following two commands one by one.

• net stop dnscache
• net start dnscache

Fix 3: Reset Chrome Flags

Step 1: Open Chrome.

Step 2: Go to this page: chrome://flags.

Step 3: Click the Reset all button to reset Chrome flags.

Step 4: Restart your Chrome.

After these steps, you can go to chrome://net-internals/#dns to clear the DNS cache and chrome://net-internals/#sockets to flush socket pools, and check if they work normally.

Fix 4: Disable VPN

VPN is useful when you want to connect to a server that is located in a different country. But it could be the cause of chrome://net-internals/#dns not working. So, you can turn off the VPN on your device and see if the issue is solved.

How Does //net-internals/#dns Work to Clear or Flush the DNS Cache in Other Chromium Browsers?

As mentioned above, //net-internals/#dns can work on chromium browsers like Opera and Microsoft Edge.

In Opera:

To clear the DNS cache in Opera, you can go to these two links:

• opera://net-internals/#dns to clear host cache.
• opera://net-internals/#sockets to flush socket pools.

In Microsoft Edge:

To clear the DNS cache in Edge, you can go to these two links:

• edge://net-internals/#dns to clear host cache.
• edge://net-internals/#sockets to flush socket pools.

Likewise, if you use Opera or Microsoft Edge on macOS, Linux, Apple OS X, Android, or iPhone/iPad, you can also use //net-internals/#dns to clear or flush the DNS cache in your web browser. In other words, this method is not limited by the device you use.

//net-internals/#dns Mobile

The following two screenshots are the edge://net-internals/#dns and edge://net-internals/#sockets pages on a mobile phone:

You can go to the edge://net-internals/#dns page to clear host cache.

After restarting Edge, you need to go to edge://net-internals/#sockets to flush socket pools.

How to Clear the DNS Cache on Different Operating Systems?

How to Clear or Flush the DNS Cache on Windows 11/10/8/7?

Step 1: Run Command Prompt as administrator.

Step 2: Run this command: ipconfig /flushdns.

How to Clear or Flush the DNS Cache on Linux?

Step 1: Open the terminal.

Step 2: Run this command: sudo service network-manager restart.

How to Clear or Flush the DNS Cache on Apple macOS?

Step 1: Open the terminal App.

Step 2: Run the following commands:

• sudo dscacheutil -flushcache
• sudo killall -HUP mDNSResponder

How to Check if DNS Is Flushed or Not?

You can use the nslookup command on Windows, Linux, macOS or Unix machine to check if you have cleared or flushed the DNS cache.

• nslookup yahoo.com
• nslookup nixcraft.com

For Unix users, you can also use the dig command or host commands:

• host www.cyberciti.biz
• dig google.com

Bottom Line

If chrome://net-internals/#dns doesn’t work to help you clear DNS in Chrome, you can try the methods mentioned in this post to solve the issue. We hope you can find a suitable solution here. Should you have other related issues, you can let us know in the comments.