Chrome net internals dns: How to Clear or flush DNS Cache on Chrome (chrome://net-internals/#dns)

This article is about - Explains how to flush or clear the DNS Cache on Google Chrome on Linux, Windows and MacOS using chrome://net-internals/#dns URL

Google Chrome has its own DNS and proxy caching system to make browsing faster. If you're seeing outdated DNS entries in Chrome on Linux or macOS, you can clear the cache without completely closing the browser. Here's how you can manually flush the DNS cache in Google Chrome:

• Open Chrome and type `chrome://net-internals/#dns` in the address bar, then press Enter.  
• On the "DNS" page, click the **"Clear host cache"** button to flush the DNS cache.  
• To clear the proxy cache, go to `chrome://net-internals/#proxy` and click **"Clear bad proxies"**.  

This will refresh the DNS and proxy data in Chrome without needing to restart it.

Google Chrome Clear or flush the DNS cache using chrome://net-internals/#dns

The produced to flush the DNS cache on Google Chrome browser is as follows:

1. Open a new tab.
2. Type the url in the search box:chrome://net-internals/#dns
3. Hit the “Clear host cache” button.
4. And you are done as DNS is flushed out.
5. Open another tab and type URL:chrome://net-internals/#sockets
6. Click on the “Flush socket pools” button.
7. Close the Google chrome tab.

From the latest version of Google Chrome:

You may need to flush out socket pools too:

• Open a new tab and type the following in search box:
• chrome://net-internals/#sockets

Click on the “Flush socket pools“:

What is the DNS Cache?

DNS cache is a small storage of data about frequently visited domains and websites. Its main purpose is to speed up browsing by resolving domain names locally without querying a DNS server every time. Additionally, if your ISP's DNS server is down, Chrome's DNS cache can sometimes help you access websites. 

However, if a website changes its DNS settings or there’s a network issue, the cached DNS entries might become outdated. In such cases, clearing the DNS cache is necessary to ensure Chrome retrieves the correct IP address for the website.

What exactly is DNS cache Flushing?

DNS cache flushing means getting rid of existing cached data DNS entries from Google Chrome. Once flushed, Google Chrome will ask for all the new IP addresses and DNS information for that website.

Clearing or flushing out DNS cache on MS-Windows 7/8/10/11

Open command prompt (Press the Windows Key > type Command Prompt > Right-click the application and select Run as Administrator)

ipconfig /flushdns

Clearing/flushing out DNS cache on Linux

Open the terminal and type the service command or systemctl command:

$ sudo service network-manager restart

Flushing out DNS cache on Apple macOS

Open the terminal App and type:

• $ sudo dscacheutil -flushcache
• $ sudo killall -HUP mDNSResponder

How to verify dns flushed or not

Use the nslookup command on your Windows, Linux, macOS or Unix machine. Open command prompt in Windows 10/11 and type nslookup as follows:

• nslookup yahoo.com
• nslookup nixcraft.com

Unix, macOS, and Linux users can try the dig command or host command as follows:

• $ host www.cyberciti.biz
• $ dig google.com

Summing up

You learned how to flush the DNS cache when using Google Chrome web browser. These instructions should work on Chromium and clone running on Windows, macOS, and Linux desktop operating systems.