Flushing your DNS cache can help to fix host connection problems you may experience when accessing some web pages. To get a better Internet access performance, Google built a caching system, not only for site content but DNS as well. So yes, Google Chrome does have a built-in internal DNS caching system – a hidden feature that allows users to manually clear out the Chrome DNS host cache from within the browser itself.
Flushing out the Chrome DNS cache can prove useful, especially when you have changed the DNS settings. If clearing out the DNS cache from the operating system level does not fix the host connection problems, clearing up Chrome’s own DNS cache should do the trick.
This article will show you step by step how to clear the Chrome DNS cache.
What Is DNS Cache?
A browser’s DNS cache is typically a databank that stores the IP addresses for every site you visit. The essence of this small databank is to make your computer have an easy access to the IP addresses of websites when they change or create new servers.
When a website switches to a new server or an IP address becomes outdated, you are likely to encounter DNS errors when you try to access such sites. Also, continuous access to sites with less web safety ratings can also corrupt your DNS cache. In such cases flushing the Chrome DNS cache can help to resolve connection errors.
What Is Flushing?
Flushing DNS entails getting rid of any stored information regarding IP addresses and DNS names. A DNS flush thus involves erasing all the stored data regarding IP addresses. After you perform a DNS flush, your system will ask for all new IPs and DNS information the next time you try to access a site which results in an error-free browsing experience.
How to Clean Up the Chrome DNS Cache
Note: The DNS flushing trick discussed below is the same in all versions of Chrome, be it on Windows, Linux, or macOS.
1. Launch Google Chrome and hit Ctrl + L to move the cursor into the URL bar. Enter the following URL into the address bar and hit Enter.
chrome://net-internals/#dns
2. It will open a Chrome DNS page. Looking at the screenshot below you’ll notice that there are eight active entries and a very long list of all the DNS entries the system has picked and stored. Locate and click the button that reads “Clear host cache.”
3. Check to see whether the number of active entries has been reduced to zero. This action should also clear the list of websites accessed.
4. Depending on the results, you may also need to flush the sockets cache as well. Enter the URL below to access the sockets page.
chrome://net-internals/#sockets
Once it opens the sockets pool page, locate the “Flush pocket pools” button and click it to wipe out the sockets cache.
How to Flush the DNS Cache on Windows
To clean up the Windows DNS cache, simply follow the steps below.
1. Type cmd in the search box to invoke the command prompt menu and hit Enter.
2. Add the following command and hit Enter.
ipconfig /flushdnsIf the command prompt runs successfully, you should see a notification under the Windows IP configuration saying you’ve successfully flushed the DNS resolver cache.
Conclusion
Flushing the DNS cache does one and only one thing: deletes existing information of IP addresses and stored DNS names. Doing so can help to resolve the host connection problems resulting in an error-free browsing experience.
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