Your DNS cache stores the locations (IP addresses) of web servers that contain web pages which you have recently viewed. If the location of the webserver changes before the entry in your DNS cache updates, you can no longer access the site.
If you encounter a large number of HTML 404 error codes, you may need to clear your DNS cache. After you clear your DNS cache, your computer will query nameservers for the new DNS information.
How to clear your DNS cache
- Windows 8
- Windows 7 or 10
- Windows XP, 2000, or Vista
- macOS 10.10.4 and above
- macOS 10.10.1, 10.10.2, and 10.10.3
- macOS 10.7, 10.8, and 10.9
- macOS 10.5 and 10.6
- ChromeOS
- Ubuntu
- Red Hat® Enterprise Linux
- CentOS, and related Linux releases
To clear your DNS cache if you use Windows 8, perform the following steps:
- On your keyboard, press Win+X to open the WinX Menu.
- Right-click Command Prompt and select Run as Administrator.
- Run the following command:
ipconfig /flushdns
If the command succeeds, the system returns the following message:
Windows IP configuration successfully flushed the DNS Resolver Cache.
To clear your DNS cache if you use Windows 7 or 10, perform the following steps:
- Click Start.
- Enter
cmdin the Start menu search text box. - Right-click Command Prompt and select Run as Administrator.
- Run the following command:
ipconfig /flushdns
If the command succeeds, the system returns the following message:
Windows IP configuration successfully flushed the DNS Resolver Cache.
To clear your DNS cache if you use Windows XP, 2000, or Vista, perform the following steps:
- Click Start.
- On the Start menu, click Run.
- If you do not see the Run command in Vista, enter
runin the Search bar. - Run the following command in the Run text box:
ipconfig /flushdns
If the command succeeds, the system returns the following message:
Successfully flushed the DNS Resolver Cache.
To clear your DNS cache if you use macOS X version 10.10.4 or above, perform the following steps:
- Click Applications.
- Click Utilities.
- Click Terminal.
- Run the following command:
sudo killall -HUP mDNSResponder
If the command succeeds, the system does not return any output.
To clear your DNS cache if you use macOS X version 10.10 through 10.10.3, perform the following steps:
- Click Applications.
- Click Utilities.
- Click Terminal.
- Run the following command:
sudo discoveryutil mdnsflushcache
If the command succeeds, the system does not return any output.
To clear your DNS cache if you use macOS X version 10.7, 10.8, or 10.9, perform the following steps:
- Click Applications.
- Click Utilities.
- Double-click Terminal.
- Run the following command:
sudo killall -HUP mDNSResponder
If the command succeeds, the system does not return any output.
To clear your DNS cache if you use macOS X version 10.5 or 10.6, perform the following steps:
- Click Applications.
- Click Utilities.
- Double-click Terminal.
- Run the following command:
sudo dscacheutil -flushcache
If the command succeeds, the system does not return any output.
To clear your DNS cache if you use ChromeOS, perform the following steps:
- Open a new Chrome tab.
- Enter the following address
chrome://net-internals - Hit the Enter key.
- From the menu, select DNS.
- Click the Clear host cache button.
If the command succeeds, the system will perform any DNS lookups again.
