DNS server not responding
The line Windows Network Diagnostics shows when the DNS server your connection is configured to use doesn't answer at all — a statement about reachability, not about whether the name you typed exists. Run the check below to see whether it's your configured resolver, or something broader on the network.
Checking your DNS from this browser…
Runs in your browser against public resolvers. No IP address is stored — just the day, the network operator you're connected through, a country code, and the results above, to build a picture of DNS behaviour per network. Privacy policy.
What Windows means by "DNS server not responding"
Windows Network Diagnostics runs its own checks when a page fails to load, and when it can't get any reply from the DNS server configured on the active connection, it surfaces that finding using this exact phrasing (sometimes shown as "DNS server isn't responding"). It's Windows's own conclusion about one specific server — not a message relayed from your ISP, not a message from the site you were trying to reach, and not a statement about whether the domain you typed is valid.
That last point matters: this error is about reachability, not correctness. The check above exists to separate the two — whether public resolvers can be reached and answer normally from this same network right now, and whether that agrees or disagrees with what your configured resolver is doing. It does not identify which resolver you're currently pointed at, and it does not measure how long that resolver takes to respond — it only reports whether an answer comes back at all.
Is it your connection, or just the resolver?
Because this error only reports on one server, the check above is built to widen or narrow the blame from there:
- Your connection is fine; the configured resolver isn't. Public resolvers answer normally on the same network while your usual one stays silent — the most common pattern, and the easiest to work around.
- The network itself is restricting DNS. Public resolvers disagree or fail to answer too, which points at a captive portal, a firewall blocking port 53, or filtering upstream of any single resolver.
- It already cleared, or was momentary. Everything answers normally by the time the check runs — Windows reported a snapshot, and the resolver may have just been slow to restart after a brief drop.
- Nothing could be reached to test. If DNS is failing badly enough on this connection, the check itself can't complete either — which is, in its own way, consistent with the error you saw.
How to fix it, in order
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Restart the device acting as your DNS server
On most home networks that device is your router, forwarding queries on behalf of everything connected to it. A stuck router process reads to Windows as exactly this error, even though your internet connection is otherwise fine. Restarting it is the fastest way to test that.
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Point your device straight at a public resolver
If the check above showed public resolvers answering normally while nothing came back through your configured path, this is the direct fix: bypass whichever server stopped responding instead of waiting for it to recover.
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Look for something blocking DNS across the whole network
If the check above showed public resolvers failing too, not just your usual one, that points at the network itself rather than a single dead server — a captive portal you haven't clicked through, a firewall rule dropping port 53, or a policy blocking DNS outright. Switching resolvers won't fix that; finding the block will.
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Don't assume it's resolved just because it stopped happening
If the check above found everything answering normally right now, treat that as a snapshot rather than a guarantee. Windows reports this error from the moment it looked, and a resolver that drops queries intermittently can look fine on one run and "not responding" on the next. If it keeps recurring, switching resolvers permanently is the fix — not waiting it out again.
DNS server not responding — frequently asked questions
What does "DNS server not responding" actually mean?
It's Windows Network Diagnostics reporting that the DNS server configured on your active connection — the one written into your network adapter's settings, or handed to you by DHCP — didn't reply at all when Windows tried to reach it. It's a statement about one specific server failing to answer, not about your internet connection as a whole and not about whether the address you typed exists.
Does this mean my internet connection is down?
Not necessarily. Reaching the internet and resolving names are two different steps, and this error is specifically about the second one. Your connection to your router and to your ISP can be completely healthy while the DNS server you're pointed at stops answering — which is exactly the distinction the check above is built to draw.
Is the DNS server my router, or something at my ISP?
It depends on your setup. Many home networks have devices pointed at the router itself, which forwards queries onward to your ISP's resolver or to whatever you've configured. Others are pointed directly at an ISP or public resolver. The error doesn't say which — it only reports that whichever address is configured didn't answer.
Why does it happen on one device but not another on the same network?
Because "the DNS server" Windows means is specific to that device's own configuration, not something every device on the network necessarily shares. A manually set resolver, a VPN pushing its own DNS, or a stale DHCP lease can all mean one machine is pointed somewhere different from the rest — so a working phone next to a failing laptop isn't a contradiction.
What does the check on this page actually test?
Three things, run from your own browser: whether a known-good domain resolves right now, whether your resolver validates DNSSEC, and what a handful of public resolvers say about the same lookups. It reports whether an answer comes back at all through your configured path versus through public resolvers used as a control — it does not identify which resolver you're pointed at, and it does not measure how long that resolver takes to respond.
Will restarting my router fix it?
Often, yes, when the router itself is the device forwarding your DNS queries and has simply gotten stuck. It won't help if the check above showed public resolvers failing too, which points at something blocking DNS across the whole network rather than one device needing a restart.