Symptoms

  • “This site can’t be reached — DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_NXDOMAIN.”
  • Even well-known sites fail, or only one does.
  • It appeared after a network change or router restart.

What causes DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_NXDOMAIN

  • Your DHCP lease or DNS settings are stale after a network change.
  • The configured DNS server is misbehaving.
  • The Windows DNS Client service is stuck.
  • The domain really does not exist (check for a typo).

How to fix it

  1. Release and renew your IP address and flush DNS (command below).
  2. Set DNS servers manually on the active adapter to 1.1.1.1 and 8.8.8.8.
  3. Restart the DNS Client service (services.msc → DNS Client, or via net stop/start dnscache) and restart the router.

Terminal / CLI command

ipconfig /release && ipconfig /renew && ipconfig /flushdns

Elevated Command Prompt. You may briefly lose connectivity while the IP renews.

How to confirm the fix: Sites resolve and load; nslookup returns an address for the domain.

Prevent it from coming back

Prefer a stable public DNS resolver and reboot the router after ISP outages.