A common error when opening websites in Google Chrome is the message “Website cannot be accessed. The server IP address could not be found.” And the DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_NXDOMAIN error code. This tutorial explains what DNS PROBE FINISHED NXDOMAIN means and how to fix this error in Google Chrome on Windows 10, 8.1 and Windows 7 and other operating systems. If you are a Google Chrome user, then the probability that at some point while surfing the Internet the error “DNS_Probe_Finished_NXDomain” occurred is quite high. Not to be anxious – this is a quite ordinary error message when the Domain Name Server (DNS) is busy or unavailable.
What it means and why IP address could not found?
When you visit a website, the first thing that happens on the system is that the browser works directly with the DNS server. Sometimes this DNS lookup can fail, resulting in a nasty error message. It will also appear as ‘server DNS address could not be found’ with dns_probe_finished_nxdomain.
Next, we will look at several of the most common ways to fix the problem, so that the message that the service was not found disappears and you can again access the desired website Google (google), Yandex (yandex), YouTube (youtube) etc.
Let’s start with the simpler options.
How to fix the ‘DNS_Probe_Finished_NXDomain’ Google Chrome
The following 9 solutions to the ‘dns_probe_finished_nxdomain.’ error are clear-cut and quickly finished. First you’ll confirm a website’s uptime status, before moving onto common DNS solutions, and at last Google Chrome and other possible causes.
Methods to solve ‘DNS_Probe_Finished_NXDomain’
Check Website Status
Websites can go down for a number of reasons. In current years, DDOS attacks have become increasingly widespread. DDOS attacks or Distributed Denial-of-Service attacks are targeted malicious actions, with the goal of crushing the server resources of a website with traffic. This can cause the website to break down. Amazon Web Services (AWS), GitHub, Face book, Twitter, Reddit, Twitch, Netflix, HBO, and several more have been rendered busy to users because of attacks.
Additionally, websites are down due to unpredicted maintenance or failures. If you try the website status and the website is down, there is nothing more you can do awaiting service is restored. This should be one of the first steps you take, to keep away from unnecessary troubleshooting.
There are a lot of services available online to check the uptime of websites. Downdetector and isitdownrightnow are two good options. Simply choose an option above and navigate to their website by mouse clicking the link.
Enter the website address into their search box and a group of information on the uptime and history of that particular website should pop-up. You will be proficient to see if there are service troubles based on the responses of other individuals all over the globe. See below-
- Type the address https://www.isitdownrightnow.com/ in the Chrome address bar.
- Enter the address of the website you are having difficulty accessing into the box ‘Which service are you having problems with?’
- In this example, we are looking at degreessymbolsign.com You can see that currently there are no reported problems with site. Here you can also see the number of service problems stated by users over a 24 hr. time period.
Clear your Chrome browser cache
Sometimes, the Chrome cache can become either too full or even corrupted, which can block access to some websites. This is another very common cause of “dns_probe_finished_nxdomain” error message you see, and fortunately it’s easy to fix.
- The first things you need to do is open Chrome and enter this into the address bar: chrome://net-internals/#dns. Hit Enter.
- You will see the data of the server on your network.
- Then press the button “Clear host cache” or in English – Clear host cache.
- After that, refresh the page and check if the problem is still there.
- If it still doesn’t work, keep reading for additional tips to find and fix this error.
Clear etc folder
- This is another easy solution.
- You need to go to the etc folder, which can be found at: C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc
- When you find this folder, select and clear all files from it with the Delete key.
- Be sure to close your browser and then reopen and try to access the website to see if that solves the problem.
Check Proxy Settings
Proxy servers work to help reduce the load of DNS servers which help in correcting “dns_probe_finished_nxdomain” error. They act as an interface between your system and DNS servers. For example, a proxy server will recover DNS information stored on your system to feed to another user instead of accessing the DNS server directly. If proxy settings are configured inappropriately, errors can pop up. Windows 10 allows you to automatically detect the best proxy settings, which usually fixes this problem. Follow the steps below to access the settings through Google Chrome:
- Click on three dots in the top-right corner and select the Settings menu.
- On the Settings page, click Advanced on the left-hand side. Then pick System from the stretched out menu.
- Under the System settings select open your computer’s proxy settings. A new window will open.
- In the Windows 10 Settings window, make sure automatically detect settings is toggled on under the Proxy header.
- The best configuration for your computer and internet should be automatically set up. This might resolve the ‘server IP address not found’ error after relaunching Google Chrome.
Updating and flushing the DNS cache
Those who use Windows probably know that it automatically stores the IP addresses of the websites that the user visits by default. This allows them to load faster on subsequent calls. Sometimes this storage will become too full or the information in it will be outdated, so you can simply resume and empty it.
First of all, open the “Run” line again, holding down the same two keys, and in the line that appears, type CMD and activate with Enter. Now the Admin Command Prompt will open.
Everything you need to print in it:
And activate. Next, we print:
We activate by pressing Enter. And we enter the last line:
These commands will update the IP address store if it is out of date. Now it is enough to reboot your system to see if the issue is resolved.
Restarting the router
- Problems with sites can sometimes be solved by restarting the server in the router. Most routers have a separate power button specifically for this purpose. If this does not produce any results, then it seems like it is worth resorting to a hard reset – this is done by simply unplugging the power plug.
- Wait about 30 seconds for all electrical components to completely shut off before restarting the device. If after completing the first two steps, Chrome still write that it does not find the IP address, and then all that remains is to choose an alternative DNS server.
Disable firewall
- The next step is to turn off Windows Firewall.
- Open Control Panel and temporarily disable the firewall after checking its configuration.
- If the error persists even after deactivating the firewall, then the DNS server may be the cause of the problem.
- If these easy solutions to the problem did not resolve the “The site server IP address could not be found” message, then there is an error, you might want to try more advanced troubleshooting steps.
Change your DNS server settings
The error dns_probe_finished_nxdomain could be due to your actual DNS servers, or rather how they are configured. To check that they are actually configured correctly, you need to hold down the Windows logo (the “Start” button) and R on the keyboard at the same time to bring up the “Run” line.
Then, by entering “Control Panel” in the text box, clicking OK, immediately switch the view to “Small Icons”. This will make it simple to locate the “Network and Sharing Center” – open it. Then click “Change adapter settings” on the left side of your window, find the Wireless Network Connection or Local Area icon and open its properties in the context menu.
Now you can see the list of items used by the connection Click Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP / IPv4). Once selected, click the Properties button. The General tab appears. If Obtain DNS Server Address Automatically is not selected, select it and click OK. If it is already selected, select “Use the following DNS server address” and click OK.
The preferred DNS server should be written as:
8.8.8.8,
And the alternate DNS server:
8.8.4.4.
These are alternate DNS from Google.
Now check if the problem is resolved.
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Conclusions
All these methods for “dns_probe_finished_nxdomain” error are the most effective and proven by many PC users. If none of them helped, finally, you can simply delete the cache, cookies and add-ons or completely reinstall the Google Chrome browser: uninstall it, and then download and install again, but this does not guarantee the safety of the data. Bookmarks, saved passwords and website addresses can simply be deleted, but the problem will be solved if its root does not lie in the Internet connection itself. If you like this article please let us know in comments. Thank you.