Flushing DNS Resolver Cache

Flush DNS Resolver Cache

Sometimes you may need to flush your computer’s DNS Resolver Cache. The DNS Resolver Cache within your operating system stores the location of Web sites you visit on the Internet. This is intended to improve browsing speed, but sometimes it needs to be cleared to ensure reliability. For example, if you recently moved your site to a new server or implement significant changes to page on your site.

Instructions for flushing the DNS Resolver Cache on several operating systems are below.

Windows: Flush DNS Cache

To Flush the DNS Resolver Cache of your Windows machine, please follow the steps below:

  1. Open your CMD prompt or Powershell terminal.

  2. Enter the following code and press the “Enter” key.

    ipconfig /flushdns
    

MacOS: Flush DNS Cache

The command to clear the DNS cache is different depending upon which version of OS X is installed on your Mac.

To determine Operating System version:

  1. Click the Apple icon at the top left of the screen
  2. Click “About This Mac” (topmost option)

Then, open the Terminal application and enter the command listed below based upon the OS X version.

OSX 10.10.4 and greater (Yosemite)

sudo dscacheutil -flushcache; sudo killall -HUP mDNSResponder; say cache flushed

OSX 10.10 (Yosemite)

sudo discoveryutil udnsflushcaches

OSX 10.9 (Mavericks)

dscacheutil -flushcache; sudo killall -HUP mDNSResponder

OSX 10.7 – 10.8 (Lion and Mountain Lion)

sudo killall -HUP mDNSResponder

OSX 10.5 – 10.6 (Leopard and Snow Leopard)

sudo dscacheutil -flushcache

Linux: Flush DNS Cache

From the terminal, enter the following command at the prompt:

/etc/rc.d/init.d/nscd restart