To flush your DNS cache, you clear the saved DNS lookups on your device so it is forced to fetch fresh records, which often fixes issues like websites not loading, wrong IPs, or odd connection errors.

What “flush DNS cache” means

  • Your device keeps a local list of domain → IP mappings so sites load faster.
  • Flushing clears that list so outdated or corrupted entries no longer interfere with connections.

Windows (10 & 11)

  • Open Start , type cmd.
  • Right‑click Command Prompt → Run as administrator.
  • In the window, type:
    ipconfig /flushdns and press Enter.
  • You should see a success message such as “Successfully flushed the DNS Resolver Cache.”

macOS

  • Open Terminal (via Spotlight search or Applications → Utilities).
  • Run this command (works on most modern macOS versions):
    sudo dscacheutil -flushcache; sudo killall -HUP mDNSResponder
  • Enter your admin password; there is usually no extra confirmation, but the cache is cleared once the command finishes.

Linux (Ubuntu and others)

  • Open Terminal.
  • On modern Ubuntu with systemd, run:
    sudo resolvectl flush-caches.
  • On some other Linux systems that use nscd, you may instead run:
    sudo systemctl restart nscd.

Browsers (Chrome DNS cache)

Sometimes the browser’s own DNS cache also needs clearing.

  • In Chrome, in the address bar go to: chrome://net-internals/#dns.
  • Click Clear host cache to flush Chrome’s internal DNS cache.

When to flush DNS cache

  • After changing DNS records (moving a site to a new server) but your device still goes to the old server.
  • When seeing errors like DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_NXDOMAIN, unexpected 404s, or sites only failing on your computer while working elsewhere.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.