Fix DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_NXDOMAIN in Chrome

Quick answer

Open Command Prompt as admin, run ipconfig /flushdns. Then in Chrome, go to chrome://net-internals/#dns and click 'Clear host cache'. If that doesn't work, restart your router or switch to Google DNS (8.8.8.8 / 8.8.4.4).

What's actually happening here

When you see DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_NXDOMAIN in Chrome, the browser sent a DNS query and got back 'NXDOMAIN' — that stands for 'Non-Existent Domain'. In plain English: your system asked the DNS server 'where is this domain?' and the server replied 'it doesn't exist'. But the domain does exist — you can reach it from other devices.

The reason this happens is almost always a stale or corrupted DNS cache on your machine or router. It can also be a misconfigured DNS server pushed by your ISP, or a Chrome internal cache gone bad. Rarely, it's a firewall or VPN blocking the query entirely. The fix is straightforward: flush all layers of cache and switch to a reliable public DNS resolver.

Fix steps

Flush your Windows DNS cache. Open Command Prompt as administrator and run ipconfig /flushdns. You'll see 'Successfully flushed the DNS Resolver Cache' if it worked. This clears the local cache Windows keeps for all apps, including Chrome.
Clear the Chrome DNS cache. Chrome maintains its own internal DNS cache separate from Windows. In the address bar, type chrome://net-internals/#dns. Click the 'Clear host cache' button. This nukes Chrome's DNS entries without affecting other browsers.
Close and reopen Chrome. Don't just restart it — fully exit Chrome from the system tray (right-click the Chrome icon in the taskbar and select 'Exit'). Reopen and try your site.
Release and renew your IP lease. In the same admin Command Prompt, run ipconfig /release then ipconfig /renew. This forces your network adapter to get a fresh IP and DNS configuration from the router. Wait 10 seconds between commands.
Reset Winsock. Run netsh winsock reset followed by netsh int ip reset. Reboot your machine. This is the nuclear option for network corruption — it resets the entire TCP/IP stack to default. Only do this if step 1-4 fail.
Switch to Google DNS. Go to Control Panel > Network and Sharing Center > Change adapter settings. Right-click your active connection, select Properties, double-click 'Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4)', and set DNS to 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4. Click OK and close everything. This bypasses your ISP's DNS server, which is often slow or misconfigured.

Alternative fixes if the main ones fail

Restart your router. Unplug it for 30 seconds, plug it back in. Many consumer routers cache DNS entries and get stuck. A power cycle clears that memory. Do this even if you think it won't help — it solves a surprising number of NXDOMAIN errors.
Check for VPN interference. If you're running a VPN, disconnect it completely and test. Some VPNs override your DNS settings with their own, and if that VPN server's DNS is slow or broken, you get NXDOMAIN. Split-tunneling can also cause this.
Run nslookup manually. Open a new Command Prompt and type nslookup example.com (replace with the failing domain). If it returns 'Non-existent domain', the problem is upstream — your DNS server truly doesn't know the domain. Try nslookup example.com 8.8.8.8 to query Google DNS directly. If that works, your default DNS is the culprit.
Disable IPv6. Some networks have broken IPv6 DNS stacks. In Windows, go to Network settings > Change adapter options > right-click your connection > Properties > uncheck 'Internet Protocol Version 6 (TCP/IPv6)'. Reboot. This is a band-aid, but it works for edge cases where IPv6 DNS resolution is flaky.
Check your hosts file. Open C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts in Notepad as admin. Look for any line mapping the failing domain to 127.0.0.1 or 0.0.0.0. Delete those lines and save. Malware or developer tools sometimes write bad entries here.

Prevention tip

Set your DNS to a reliable public resolver like Cloudflare (1.1.1.1, 1.0.0.1) or Google (8.8.8.8, 8.8.4.4) permanently. ISP-provided DNS servers change addresses, get overloaded, and cache stale records for too long. Public resolvers have 99.9% uptime and update their caches in seconds. On Windows 11, you can set this at the router level so all your devices benefit, or per-adapter if you travel with a laptop. Also, keep Chrome updated — old versions have known bugs in their DNS resolver that cause NXDOMAIN false positives.