There are many problems that occur on a daily basis while you are trying to connect server to the Internet. One of the most common problems is the DNS unavailable error. When your web browser is unable to maintain a connection with the web, it will prompt you to run a diagnostic or troubleshooting on your network. After the troubleshooting, you will receive the error DNS server unavailable, or could not connect to DNS server error.
What is this error, why is it caused, and how to fix it? Today, we will be answering all of these questions in a simple and brief manner so that you can easily counter the problem yourself. All you will have to do is take some time out and follow the solutions provided in our guide carefully. We will be providing multiple solutions for the error so that you can try multiple solutions until you can connect to the Internet once again.
We will urge you to read the guide completely so that you understand the error completely and resolve it without needing to seek professional help. But before we move onto the solutions to the problem, let’s try to understand what a DNS is and why it is a crucial part of internet connectivity.
Understanding DNS and Its Importance
The Domain Name System (DNS) is basically a naming system that is used to identify various systems over the Internet. This service transforms a unique domain which is a combination of alphabets and numbers into an IP address. This IP address is used to download and upload data from your system. Thus, whenever you send a request to a website, your DNS server and IP address verify your system, and you get the service access.
When you enter a website address or a search query in your browser, it uploads the data to the router, which further transfers it to your DNS server. the DNS encodes the request into a unique sequence of alphabets and numbers and transfers it to the requested IP address. As you can expect, the DNS plays a crucial role in the system, and your connectivity completely depends on it.
If your system is unable to transfer the data to a DNS server, you will not be able to use your internet service. Generally, the DNS service is handled by your internet service provider. Thus, you might get an automatic resolution from your service provider. But in the meantime, you can try the following solutions and make sure that the problem is not on your end.
How To Fix The Problem
Today, we will be guiding you through a handful of helpful solutions that can fix the DNS unavailable error for you. Keep in mind that these solutions refer to the most common problems faced by the majority of internet users. Hence, there is a good chance of solving the problem for you by the time you reach the end of this guide.
Router problem
As your router is the main bridge between your system and your DNS server, it can be the culprit in many cases. Apart from these errors, many complications are caused by the router, which disconnects the user from the Internet. Therefore, you should always check your router whenever you face a problem regarding internet connectivity to get a quicker resolution.
In this case, we will recommend you restart your router. Simply turn off your router and wait for 5 to 10 minutes. After that, turn it back on. This will reboot the firmware of your router and possibly solve your problem right away. If not, you will have to take some additional steps.
The first thing we should try is accessing the admin panel on your router and checking the network parameters. You can access the admin page on your router by entering the IP address of your router. Once there, you will have to enter the username and password of your connection. You can get these details from your ISP. Here, you can access the network settings and make sure everything is properly configured.
Lastly, check your router’s firmware version. If your router is old, its firmware might be outdated by now, which might be causing the problem. You can check whether you can update the firmware from the admin access panel. Alternatively, you can visit the official support page of your router and download the latest firmware directly.
If you have ensured that the problem is not caused by your router, you can move on to other solutions.
Changing DNS Servers in Windows OS
By default, your computer uses the DNS address configured by your internet service provider to deliver the best performance. But, malware or even third-party software can easily change the default DNS address. This will redirect your connection to a different DNS address which will result in the error. You can easily configure the correct DNS address in your system by following these steps:
- Right select the connectivity icon present on your taskbar and select “Open Network & Internet Settings”.
- Here, you can check the name and status of your connection. select the “Change adapter options” to change network-related parameters.
- Now, the connection window will appear. Here, select your active connection and open it.
- select the “Properties” for further options. Keep in mind that you will need administrative privileges to access these settings.
- In the properties tab, find the “IPv4” option and double-click on it to change the DNS.
- Now, pay attention to the lower section of this window where it says DNS server address. Enable custom DNS server address option and put 8.8.8.8 as preferred DNS server and 8.8.4.4 as an alternate DNS server. This is a DNS service offered by Google and works ideally.
- Click “Ok” and check if your problem is fixed.
Changing DNS Server via Router
To verify whether your router is causing the problem or not, you can simply disconnect the Internet cable from your router and connect it directly to your desktop or laptop. If you can access the Internet directly, it would be clear that your router is the culprit in this scenario. There are various settings, and parameters available on your router’s admin access panel, and a misconfiguration in any parameter will cause the problem.
Most routers also have a dedicated DNS setting page which you can access from the admin panel. To know your router’s access page and how to change the DNS setting on your router, you will have to contact the router manufacturer or visit the official webpage of the router brand. There, you will find solutions to most router-related problems.
DNS Service in Windows 10
Similar to every other service running in the background of your system, the DNS service is also running at all times and allows you to connect to the Internet. But, there can be instances where a certain program or task stops the DNS service, which will disconnect you from the DNS. You can check the status of the DNS service on your computer by filling the steps described here:
- Open the “Run” window. You can do this by searching “Run” in the Windows 10 search bar or by simply pressing the Windows key and R combination.
- In the window, type “Services.msc” and click “ok”.
- This will open the services window. Here, you can see all of the services available in your system, including both active and inactive services.
- Find the “DNS client” in the services. You can do that easily by tapping the D key until the service is highlighted.
- Once you find the service, check the status section. It should say “Running” on this part. If it does, you can close the window and check other solutions.
- In case the section is empty, choose the “restart” option.
- Now, Windows will attempt to restart the service. If successful, your internet connection error will be resolved.
Clearing the cache
You might already know that Windows OS generates cache when a service or activity is running so that it can access the cached files to deliver faster results next time. Similarly, the cache is generated for the DNS service. To clear this cache, you will have to run a few commands in the Windows Command Prompt window.
- Open the command prompt by searching command prompt in the windows 10 search bar and selecting the “Run as Administrator” from additional options.
- Now, all you will have to do is run a couple of commands sequentially in the command prompt. The first command would be the [ipconfig /flushdns] without the brackets.
- run the [ipconfig /registerdns] command in the same manner.
- Now, this command executes instantly but takes nearly 15 minutes to be completed. After executing this command, you will see that registration is initiated. Now, wait 15 minutes until the DNS address has been registered and move on to the next command.
- The next command would be [ipconfig /renew]. Select the command without brackets and paste it into the command prompt. , hit enter to execute it.
- Now, input the final command [ipconfig /release] without brackets and hit enter.
- After all the commands are successfully executed, you should restart our system and check whether you can access the Internet or not.
Configuring antivirus
If none of the above solutions worked out for you, it is time to check your antivirus program for potential misconfigurations and errors. If you use third-party antivirus software, there is a chance that it might be blocking your computer’s connection with the DNS.
To check if the problem is caused by your antivirus, simply disable it for some time. Check if you can access the internet connection after your antivirus is disabled. If you can connect to your Internet after disabling the antivirus, you will have to whitelist the DNSs in the antivirus program. Or, you may want to replace the program completely.
Consult Your ISP
The final resolution for any internet-related problem is to consult your ISP and alert them about the problem so that they can fix it from their end. All you will have to do is contact your ISP and describe the problem. As the problem is quite common, your ISP might already be aware of it. This way, you can get an idea about the severity of the problem and an ETA of the resolution.
Conclusion
We hope that we have managed to provide a correct solution for the DNS unavailable problem for your connection. If not, you can reach us via the comment section below and get any additional help that you may require. Although, we will insist you try all of the solutions mentioned above so that you can easily get it fixed by yourself. If you have concluded that the problem is from the provider’s end, all you can do is wait until the provider resolves the problem for you.
