Clearing Your DNS Cache
When you visit a website in your browser, your computer will store information about where this website lives on the Internet, so that you do not have to look it up again. This is similar to how your browser may cache files in your temporary internet files, except it is caching a website address instead.
Sometimes the site you are looking for may move to a different IP address, and your computer may not have the latest location information about the site.
You can use the instructions below to clear your DNS cache, ensuring you have the latest location information about all the websites you visit.
Windows® 98, ME, 2000
- Open the Start menu.
- Go to Run.
- Type: ipconfig /flushdns
- Press Enter or Return, and your cache will be flushed.
Windows® XP, Vista or Windows 7
- Open the Start menu.
- Go to Run.
- Type: ipconfig /flushdns
- Type: net stop dnscache
- Press Enter or Return, and your cache will be flushed.
Windows 8, 8.1, 10
1. Go to desktop and press on keyboard "Win" and "R" simultaneously.
2. In the new window enter "cmd" and press enter key.
3. You will see command line interface. Type following text:
ipconfig /flushdns
4. After that press enter. DNS cache will be cleared.
More permanent options for Windows DNS Cache
MacOS®
- Go to Applications.
- Go to Utilities.
- Open the Terminal application.
- Type: dscacheutil -flushcache
- Press Enter or Return, and your cache will be flushed.
MacOS X (Leopard)
- Go to Applications.
- Go to Utilities.
- Open the Terminal application.
- Type: lookupd -flushcache
- Press Enter or Return, and your cache will be flushed.
If you receive errors similar to "-bash: lookupd: command not found" on Step 4, you can try using the following command instead:
dscacheutil -flushcache
MacOS X (Mavericks)
1. Start Launchpad.
2. Type "terminal" and press enter.
3. Type following command:
dscacheutil -flushcache
Press enter. Cache will be cleared.
4. Type following command to restart local DNS server:
sudo killall -HUP mDNSResponder
Systems will ask you for admin password. If you don't know it, you can simply reboot your PC.
Linux
- Open the Command Line Interface (CLI) using PuTTY or your favorite SSH client.
- Type: /etc/rc.d/init.d/nscd restart
- Press Enter or Return, and your cache will be flushed.
Further information for Windows users:
Source: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/318803