How to Flush DNS Cache on Windows, macOS & Linux (2026)

Copy the command for your OS and run it.

• Windows 10 / 11 (CMD): ipconfig /flushdns
• Windows 10 / 11 (PowerShell): Clear-DnsClientCache
• macOS Ventura, Sonoma, Sequoia, Tahoe: sudo dscacheutil -flushcache && sudo killall -HUP mDNSResponder
• Linux (systemd-resolved): sudo resolvectl flush-caches

Need a deeper walkthrough for one system? See flush DNS on Windows, flush DNS on Mac, or flush DNS on Linux.

What is DNS cache and why flush it?

Every time you visit a website, your operating system saves the result of that DNS lookup locally. That saved result is the DNS cache: a temporary record that maps domain names to IP addresses.

It exists for speed. Caching means your system does not hit a DNS server on every request.

The problem is that the cache goes stale.

If a domain's IP address changes because you updated your hosts file, switched dev environments, or a DNS record propagated, your machine keeps serving the old answer. You get the wrong site, a broken page, or a connection error. Nothing in the browser tells you why.

Flushing the DNS cache wipes those stale records. Your OS then performs fresh lookups and picks up the current IP addresses.

It is one of the most common first steps in DNS troubleshooting, and one of the most misunderstood. For the lookup order (hosts file, then cache, then resolver), see how DNS resolution works.

How to flush DNS cache on Windows 10 and 11

Windows 10 and Windows 11 use the same commands. You have two options: Command Prompt or PowerShell.

Option 1: Command Prompt

1. Press Win + S, type cmd, right-click Command Prompt, and select Run as administrator.
2. Run:

ipconfig /flushdns

3. You should see:

Windows IP Configuration

Successfully flushed the DNS Resolver Cache.

That is it. The DNS resolver cache is cleared.

Option 2: PowerShell

Open PowerShell as administrator and run:

Clear-DnsClientCache

No output means success. This cmdlet is the PowerShell equivalent of ipconfig /flushdns. Both wipe the DNS client resolver cache.

Do you need admin rights? Yes. On Windows, flushing the DNS cache needs an elevated prompt. A standard user account typically returns an access error.

ipconfig /flushdns tells the Windows DNS Client service to discard cached records. Clear-DnsClientCache does the same via the DnsClient module. Use whichever terminal you already have open.

Verify with:

ipconfig /displaydns
nslookup myproject.test

WSL2 keeps a separate resolver from Windows. Flush inside the distro with sudo resolvectl flush-caches, or run wsl --shutdown from Windows. Full WSL2 mapping: sync WSL2 with the Windows hosts file.

If the change still does not apply, see the full Windows flush DNS guide. After editing the file itself, use how to edit the hosts file on Windows 11.

How to flush DNS cache on macOS

The command is the same across macOS Ventura (13), Sonoma (14), Sequoia (15), and Tahoe (26). Apple has kept this sequence since macOS 10.10.4.

Open Terminal (Cmd + Space → type Terminal → Enter) and run:

sudo dscacheutil -flushcache && sudo killall -HUP mDNSResponder

Enter your admin password when prompted. No output is normal. Silence means it worked.

Both parts are needed. Running only one of them may leave residual cached entries. && runs them in order and stops if the first command fails.

Older macOS versions

• macOS 10.10.4 and later (all current versions): sudo dscacheutil -flushcache && sudo killall -HUP mDNSResponder
• macOS 10.10 – 10.10.3: sudo discoveryutil mdnsflushcache
• macOS 10.6 – 10.9: sudo dscacheutil -flushcache

Verify with ping myproject.test or dscacheutil -q host -a name myproject.test. macOS prints nothing on a successful flush, so the ping is the real check.

If you are on Ventura, Sonoma, Sequoia, or Tahoe, use the two-part command above. Version-by-version commands: flush DNS on Mac. Dedicated Tahoe notes: macOS Tahoe flush DNS. To edit /etc/hosts: edit the hosts file on Mac.

How to flush DNS cache on Linux

Linux does not have a single universal flush command. It depends on which DNS resolver your system uses.

Ubuntu and Debian (systemd-resolved, default since Ubuntu 16.04)

sudo resolvectl flush-caches

Verify it worked:

sudo resolvectl statistics

Look for Current Cache Size: 0 in the output.

Older syntax (still works on some systems):

sudo systemd-resolve --flush-caches

Fedora / RHEL / CentOS Stream

Fedora also uses systemd-resolved by default:

sudo resolvectl flush-caches

If your system uses dnsmasq instead:

sudo systemctl restart dnsmasq

Arch Linux

Arch with systemd-resolved:

sudo resolvectl flush-caches

Arch with nscd:

sudo nscd -i hosts

Quick reference

Not sure which resolver you are running? Check with:

systemctl is-active systemd-resolved

If it returns active, use resolvectl flush-caches. Plain glibc has no DNS cache, so a flush is only needed when a caching service is running. Resolver-by-resolver steps: flush DNS on Linux. To edit the file: edit the hosts file on Ubuntu.

Common reasons to flush DNS cache

You should not flush DNS every day. These situations call for it immediately.

1. You edited your hosts file

This is the big one for developers. You added a local override, pointing myapp.local (prefer .test) to 127.0.0.1, but the browser still loads the old IP. Your OS cached the previous lookup before the edit. Flush the cache and the new entry takes effect.

2. You are switching between dev environments

Staging, production, local: each has a different IP. If you toggle between environments and hosts changes are not sticking, a stale DNS cache is almost certainly the culprit.

3. DNS propagation is not reflecting

You updated a DNS record at your registrar. The TTL expired. Your machine still resolves to the old IP. That is the local DNS cache holding the previous answer. Flush it and re-test.

4. You are troubleshooting connection errors

ERR_NAME_NOT_RESOLVED, DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_NXDOMAIN, or a site that will not load: a DNS flush is worth trying before you dig deeper. Dedicated error guide: DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_NXDOMAIN.

A note on browser DNS cache

Flushing your OS DNS cache is not the same as clearing your browser's DNS cache. Chrome, Firefox, and Edge each keep an internal DNS cache, separate from the OS.

If you flushed the OS cache and the problem persists, clear the browser cache too.

For Chrome, open:

chrome://net-internals/#dns

Click Clear host cache. Then go to chrome://net-internals/#sockets and click Flush socket pools. Restart Chrome if the old connection is still held.

Firefox: about:networking#dns → Clear DNS Cache. Edge uses edge://net-internals/#dns, same pattern as Chrome.

Always reload in a new tab. An old tab can reuse an open socket.

If the command line resolves correctly and the browser does not, the browser is stale. If both are wrong, check the hosts line itself: IP<space>hostname, no http://, no port. Checklist: hosts file not working.

Still seeing the old IP?

Work through this in order:

1. Flush system DNS with the command for your OS above.
2. Clear the browser DNS cache and open a new tab.
3. Confirm the hosts line is IP hostname with a space or tab, no scheme, no port.
4. Disable any VPN that forces its own DNS resolver.
5. Recheck on the command line with nslookup, ping, or getent hosts myproject.test.

If the CLI is correct and the browser is not, flush the browser again. If the CLI is still wrong, the hosts file or another resolver is overriding you, not the cache.

Stop flushing DNS manually

If you regularly switch between local, staging, and production, you have run ipconfig /flushdns or sudo killall -HUP mDNSResponder more times than you can count.

ToggleHosts is a visual hosts file manager for macOS, Windows, and Linux. Every time you switch environment profiles, it flushes the DNS cache automatically: no terminal, no command to remember, no ten-minute wait wondering why the change is not showing up.

You define host entries once, group them into profiles (local, staging, production, client-X), and switch in one click. The DNS flush happens in the background.

One-time purchase. Works on all three platforms.

If you are tired of the loop (edit hosts, open terminal, flush, reload browser, repeat), ToggleHosts removes every step except the switch.

_Last tested: August 2026 on Windows 11, macOS 26 Tahoe, and Ubuntu 24.04._

Sources and further reading

• ipconfig command reference (Microsoft Learn)
• Clear-DnsClientCache (Microsoft Learn)
• Reset the DNS cache in macOS (Apple Support HT202516)
• How DNS works (Cloudflare Learning)
• How to flush DNS in Linux (How-To Geek)