DNS Cache Flush, Clear, or Reset in Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8.
Posted by Hack_Vista in Microsoft Vista
Frequently web connection problems can be traced to a corrupted DNS cache. Flushing this cache is an easy fix to many of these problems. This is how to flush the cache in Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8.
Here is how to fix that corrupted DNS cache.
1. Click the Microsoft Vista Start logo in the bottom left corner of the screen
2. Click All Programs
3. Click Accessories
4. RIGHT-click on Command Prompt
5. Select Run As Administrator
6. In the command window type the following and then hit enter: ipconfig /flushdns
7. You will see the following confirmation:
Windows IP Configuration
Successfully flushed the DNS Resolver Cache.
The Conversation
Follow the reactions below and share your own thoughts.
November 28, 2008 at 5:43 pm, Jimbo said:
Thanks for the helpful tip
I wasn’t sure if was the same as XP or not but it looks like it is.
December 08, 2008 at 6:50 am, adis said:
thanks
December 21, 2008 at 5:56 pm, erik said:
thank you for the help. Did not know about this. It did the trick though.
January 08, 2009 at 2:59 am, jason said:
i need elevation to complete
January 09, 2009 at 5:47 pm, c said:
did not work it say requested operation requires elevation
January 10, 2009 at 1:09 am, Freaked said:
you are not running as administrator if you are getting “requested operation requires elevation”. RUN IT AS ADMINISTRATOR as this guide recommends.
February 06, 2009 at 1:08 pm, KurodaShun said:
My account was “Admin” type…
but when i tried flush dns,
the “Requested operation requires elevation” message still came out!!!
December 08, 2009 at 11:29 pm, Anonymous said:
right click it then click run as admistrator….( i think thats what you name your computer/user…)
January 21, 2009 at 11:55 pm, Pippin said:
I experienced internet connection problems. While Skype and pinging ip numbers worked (even connecting to ip addresses in the web browser worked) just addresses like http://www.google.com often did not work.
After a lot of fiddling I found that disabling NetBIOS via TCP/IP helps. Go to the Network Center, Network Connections, properties of the connection (wireless or LAN, whatever you use for this connection). Then properties of the IPv4 protocol, Advanced, WINS tab. Select Disable NetBIOS via TCP/IP. For good measure I also enabled Use DNS suffix of this connection in the DNS registration (DNS tab). The latter I also did for the IPv6 protocol. In my experience the NetBIOS setting did the trick for me.
Maybe this helps some of you.
January 30, 2009 at 5:54 pm, brian said:
why does mine say “requires elevation”?
February 04, 2009 at 11:00 pm, Roy said:
Click on Vista start menu logo and start typing cmd. when you see it, right click and say “run as administrator” and verify by selecting okay and then type configuration.
February 15, 2009 at 11:42 am, James said:
I’m not some newbie. A+ certified. I’m starting to think half of my problems are some kind of HP specific BS settings. Nothing I run at the command line works normally on this computer. I use my (NON-HP) VISTA laptop and my results vary. I can’t even get Python to run correctly. DNS flush gave me all kinds of errors. Double checked my typing. Never buy another HP again. I’m building my next rig just like I did all of my previous rigs.
March 24, 2011 at 4:55 pm, Blake said:
Thank you so much. I have been searching online for a solution. You’re the man!
March 09, 2009 at 12:27 am, Evolex said:
it writes: function execution error
March 17, 2009 at 11:57 am, mtsen.com said:
fantastic ! some old dos stuff will never go away ..
March 22, 2009 at 9:49 pm, mary said:
i switches from verizon to comcast now on the pc which is an ibm older model the ip address is zeros i connect and work fine on my laptop with the comcast modem etc so any ideas i did ipconfig renew etc still zeros all the connectoons are fine it was foine on verizon the comcAST AND NO IP ADRESS WELL YAH BUT ZEROS??? ANY HELP APRECIATTED
March 25, 2009 at 3:22 am, wayne said:
do you have a router conected if so reset the modem and the router and try to plug them back and see if that works if not pulg the modem and the,pc no router in between and check your ip if that dont wrork do and inetwiz if that dont work do a flushdns as check ur ip address. if you are a homenetworking comcast customer you need to call them and ask them for an static ip. I hope that by fallowing this steps you get what you need. Later
April 04, 2009 at 10:14 pm, Dakota said:
I flushed it out for Itunes and it didn’t work. I did everything sucessfully, and it still says that the internet couldn’t connect with the store and that I need to check my settings. I don’t understand!! I have done absolutely everything that there is to do. Please Help!!!!!
March 09, 2010 at 8:00 am, Anonymous said:
hi try ipconfig /flushdns press enter then put in (net stop dnscache) wait for that to stop then put in (net start dnscache) press enter see if that works for you
September 15, 2010 at 3:04 pm, Trish said:
OMG! your a genius! Hugz for huggy! Thanks.
May 19, 2009 at 8:43 am, hege said:
I tried this but got the message :”could not flush the DNS Resolver Cache: Function failed during execution”
November 04, 2010 at 2:16 am, newbie said:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/919746
These instructions solved my problems…because the DNS client service was not set up to run at start up and it wasn’t enabled.
May 29, 2009 at 6:23 pm, Ryan said:
I am having issues connecting to Server 2003 with Vista Ultimate. I keep getting the error :
“An attempt to resolve the DNS name of a DC in the domain being joined has failed. Please verify this client is configured to reach a DNS server that can resolve DNS names in the target domain.” Any help would be greatly appreciated
June 07, 2009 at 3:22 am, concerned guru said:
thx this worked great
June 19, 2009 at 3:03 am, steph said:
thanks a lot i worked with the XP one but didn’t know how to work the vista cmd.
p.s. the computer newbs are great to laugh at.
July 06, 2009 at 10:09 pm, Kali said:
The only difference between a “newb” and you is experience with a pc, Steph. Oh wait… you didn’t know how to work the Vista cmd…..
June 23, 2009 at 1:24 pm, Munyi said:
What if the message you get is “could not flush dns resolver Cache: Function failed during execution”
July 09, 2009 at 5:25 am, Jen said:
Fantastic Fix! Thank you soooo much!!!
July 14, 2009 at 3:00 am, Anonymous said:
Great Help, Tx!
September 27, 2009 at 11:27 pm, Aryan Mughal said:
Thanks
From A Very Long Time I Am Searching For This
November 04, 2009 at 8:04 am, eric said:
This does not work. I ran the command and got the confirmation message, but when I type : ipconfig /displaydns it still shows that everything is in the cache and nothing has been removed.
November 15, 2009 at 5:12 pm, Mark Bunds said:
My Vista installation corrupts the DNS cache so frequently that I wrote a batch file and placed on my desktop.
November 28, 2009 at 1:40 pm, Anonymous said:
I found that a DOUBLE ipconfig /flushdns seemed to do the trick (and it doesn’t waste cyber-water) to resolve the Vista DNS problem.
December 01, 2009 at 5:24 am, Anonymous said:
This didn’t work in my case. Tried several times, but never got response in DOS window or any change whatsoever. Funny thing…the “instructions” for how to fix this on the Microsoft website pretty much say you need to reset the dns functions, and that the “error” message MUST be the result of the dns processor being “not on automatic” and yet when you look at the system functions it IS what it says it should NOT be.
Frustrating
December 15, 2009 at 11:02 am, Anonymous said:
yeah i did that and now when i have to do a system restore to even use my internet exploerer,so i can’t shut off my computer at all or i’ll have to do a system restore
December 31, 2009 at 4:01 pm, steve said:
ipconfig /flushdns doesn’t always work under all circumstances with Vista, unfortunately. sometimes you need to do a restart of the cache: net stop dnscache, net start dnscache (or use the services snapin to restart DNS Client)
January 10, 2010 at 10:36 pm, Anonymous said:
Hi,
I just wanted to share this information so that it may help others who have a had my issue.If you have tried the various other fixes and vista is still not working then please try disabling your IP Flood Detection in the router. This did the job for me.
May 02, 2010 at 5:45 pm, Anonymous said:
Hi, I’ve been on the phone with mu ISP over some trouble with my DNS. We tried alot of different things including:
ipconfig /release
ipconfig /renew
ipconfig /flushdns
unfortunatly nothing has worked.
The problem is that my DNS isn’t reading hosts but only IP adresses. I’m really stuck and about to smash my Acer off the ground : )
Any help would be great
-Cillían
May 12, 2011 at 11:16 am, JOSH said:
DID you ever resolve this
May 08, 2010 at 3:43 am, Anonymous said:
yours is the first that worked! bravo!
May 20, 2010 at 5:17 pm, Luisa said:
I am having trouble with logins. I have the correct login info and it doesnt prompt me that I have incorrect user or password however it will keep asking me for login info.
May 31, 2010 at 5:08 pm, Brian Pace said:
Thanks, worked great. This, indeed, was the problem.
June 07, 2010 at 3:32 pm, HB said:
very helpful tip
i was looking this….
July 24, 2010 at 4:38 pm, Anime said:
Ah, awesome. I tried doing it without running as Administrator, but it kept giving errors. Who’d have known the fix was so simple? lol
July 25, 2010 at 2:25 am, Matt said:
should there be something in the command window already?
I dont want to add something and screw up vista any more than it already is.
I have no idea when it comes to working with dos,dag,dog,or whatever other abbreviations there are.
July 26, 2010 at 2:19 pm, takizo said:
You can type another command “registerdns” after flush, it will do query to the DNS server again.
August 04, 2010 at 10:21 pm, Radutwitter said:
I have a lot of weird websites that I see when doing : ipconfig/displaydns. Sites that currently are redirecting some of my requests to them. What a hell should I do to erase those ?
August 04, 2010 at 1:39 pm, Alice said:
I have a 2008 Dell Inspiron running windows vista and i tried SOOOO many things to make it work and this ended up being the deal breaker. Thanks for the info!
August 09, 2010 at 11:20 am, Dmiretti said:
Thanks for the tip! Worked like a charm. Didn’t realize that quirk about Vista..just another reason why Vista is like a lump of coal in the proverbial stocking.
August 26, 2010 at 10:39 am, Falken751 said:
worked perfectly.
September 23, 2010 at 9:08 pm, Shanenagg said:
thanks this worked 4 me
October 11, 2010 at 6:22 pm, Seo said:
thanks. but does not work
January 10, 2011 at 4:03 am, BrandonL said:
Hello. I have completed the flushdns and went back to displaydns and it shows all the cache that was there originally. I tried doing it twice in a row and it still comes up. I also did a restart of the cache: net stop dnscache, net start dnscache. What are my next options? Thanks!!!
March 12, 2011 at 4:44 pm, Kdouat said:
That’s what I just did. Now, I am waiting…. Thanks for the validation!
November 20, 2011 at 7:15 am, Dave said:
I try to do this but can’t. When I click Acessories to expand it, the start menu I have open closes before I try to click anything in the accessories. Also every 2 seconds the screen is sort of refreshing or changing focus to another program or something because the title bar is flashing in and out of focus.
December 13, 2011 at 11:21 am, online alışveriş said:
thanks for share.very nice post
December 13, 2011 at 6:47 pm, araç takip said:
hi try ipconfig /flushdns press enter then put in (net stop dnscache) wait for that to stop then put in (net start dnscache) press enter see if that works for you
December 25, 2011 at 9:19 pm, Best Blogging Tips said:
thanks for this useful information I was looking for it
January 04, 2012 at 3:42 pm, brian said:
I have a reseller hosting site, to login to the cpanel I was always promted with: – SSL encryption is required for access to this server, I could login using this. But now when I trying to login using this I got connection to this server was interupted, now I just get can not connect. I have the flushdns and several of the remidies on this page but unable to resolve. Any suggestions would be mutch apprechated.
thanks
Brian
February 07, 2012 at 12:22 am, John Lectroman said:
I tried over and over again to flush my dns cache. Nothing suggestede here works on my Vista PC….HP. The dialogs always say it was successful but when I display it shows the same entries as before. I stopped the service and restarted but to no avail…nada. There has to be a way to get rid of these websites. My 16 YO nephew was here for a week and went to several porn sites…I want them off my PC. Someone must have a viable solution. HELP
March 03, 2012 at 3:52 pm, Moulinex Fresh said:
thanks. but does not work
March 03, 2012 at 4:22 pm, Moulinex Fresh said:
I have a reseller hosting site, to login to the cpanel I was always promted with: – SSL encryption is required for access to this server, I could login using this. But now when I trying to login using this I got connection to this server was interupted, now I just get can not connect.
March 17, 2012 at 9:40 pm, Muhammad said:
slow internet on my sony vio was resolved in seconds. many thanks.
April 03, 2012 at 2:09 pm, Ian Brownlee said:
well done defineately worked for me wuldnt have thought netbios over tcp/ip would have been the issue but there you go
April 16, 2012 at 10:27 am, xxxwatch said:
thank you for the help. Did not know about this. It did the trick though.
April 30, 2012 at 1:12 pm, walaa said:
thanks alot…
May 06, 2012 at 8:17 pm, steve f said:
Thanks a lot HV I’ve been experiencing all sorts of crap this week with DNS issues; I don’t know if this has fixed it indefinitely, but it’s definately made a difference so far – nice one
May 08, 2012 at 3:45 pm, John said:
Doesn’t work on my computer with windows 7
May 08, 2012 at 3:47 pm, John said:
doesn’t work