How to Change DNS Server in Windows 11: Configuring DNS Servers

To change the DNS server in Windows 11, open Settings, Network & internet, then your Wi-Fi or Ethernet connection, click Edit next to DNS server assignment and type the new addresses. Pages hang on “Resolving host” and everything else looks fine: a sign to change the DNS server in Windows 11 on this PC. The Wi-Fi is connected. Other devices work. The fix takes about a minute. Settings, your network, one Edit button, two addresses. The new servers work the moment you click Save.

It’s a common suggestion for people working from home and from hotels, too. It’s the first thing we’d try before blaming the router. And it’s fully reversible in seconds.

What a DNS server does, and why you’d swap it

It turns names like hypestkey.com into the IP addresses computers connect to. By default Windows 11 uses whatever server your router or internet provider hands out through DHCP.

Every page you open starts with a lookup. A slow, overloaded or broken resolver makes browsing feel sluggish, even on a fast line. Here’s what another resolver can change.

• Speed. Large public resolvers typically answer faster than an ISP’s servers. The pause between typing an address and the page starting to load gets shorter. Download speeds don’t change.
• Security. Quad9 refuses to resolve domains on threat intelligence lists. A phishing link may simply fail to open.
• Filtering. OpenDNS and the family variants of Cloudflare can block adult content for the whole PC.
• Privacy. With DNS over HTTPS your lookups travel encrypted. Without it they cross the local network and the provider’s lines in plain text.
• Troubleshooting. A broken resolver looks like “no internet” in the browser. Switching DNS quickly tells the two apart.

One thing it rarely does any more is get you past geo-blocked streaming. Most services check your IP address, not your resolver. So don’t expect miracles there.

Before you change anything

• Note the current setting. Automatic, or two addresses someone entered before.
• Check whether a VPN is running. Many replace DNS with their own.
• Decide which connection you’re changing. Wi-Fi and Ethernet are set separately.
• On a work PC, ask IT first.

How to change the DNS server in Windows 11 Settings

1. Press Win + I to open Settings and select Network & internet.
2. For wireless, click Wi-Fi, then the properties of the network you’re on. For cable, click Ethernet.
3. Next to DNS server assignment, click Edit.
4. Change the setting from automatic to Manual.
5. Turn on IPv4.
6. Type the Preferred DNS, for example 1.1.1.1. Then the Alternate DNS, for example 1.0.0.1.
7. Optionally set DNS over HTTPS to the automatic template. More on that below.
8. Click Save.

The change applies to that connection right away. The list under DNS server assignment now shows your servers. With DoH active, the word Encrypted stands next to them.

Each network keeps its own setting. A café Wi-Fi you join next week still uses automatic DNS, until you change it there too.

Edit DNS server assignment, not IP assignment. Older guides send you to IP assignment, which also asks for a fixed IP address, a subnet and a gateway. Get one of those wrong, and the PC drops off the network.

Laptops that move between networks

Wi-Fi settings are saved per network. The Ethernet setting belongs to the adapter. So a laptop needs the change once for the office cable, and once for each Wi-Fi network you care about.

Change the DNS server in Windows 11 from Control Panel

The classic method. It still works.

1. Press Win + R, type ncpa.cpl and press Enter.
2. Right-click your active adapter, Wi-Fi or Ethernet, and choose Properties.
3. Select Internet Protocol Version 4, the TCP/IPv4 entry, and click Properties.
4. Choose Use the following DNS server addresses.
5. Enter the preferred server in the first field and the alternate in the second.
6. Click OK. Repeat with the TCP/IPv6 entry if you also want IPv6 DNS.
7. Click Close.

There’s a second way to that window. Settings, Network & internet, Advanced network settings, More network adapter options.

This dialog shows IPv4 and IPv6 side by side. Its Advanced button takes more than two DNS servers. It has no DNS over HTTPS option, though. That lives only in Settings, PowerShell and Group Policy.

Change the DNS server in Windows 11 with PowerShell or Command Prompt

The command line shines when several PCs need the same settings. Drop the lines into a script, or push them through your management tool. Both need an administrator window.

PowerShell

Right-click Start and choose Terminal as admin. Then:

Get-NetAdapter
Set-DnsClientServerAddress -InterfaceAlias "Wi-Fi" -ServerAddresses "1.1.1.1","1.0.0.1"
Get-DnsClientServerAddress -InterfaceAlias "Wi-Fi"
Set-DnsClientServerAddress -InterfaceAlias "Wi-Fi" -ResetServerAddresses

Command Prompt with netsh

netsh interface show interface
netsh interface ip set dns name="Wi-Fi" static 1.1.1.1
netsh interface ip add dns name="Wi-Fi" 1.0.0.1 index=2
netsh interface ip set dns name="Wi-Fi" dhcp

Replace Wi-Fi with the exact adapter name. Keep the quotes when the name has spaces in it.

Which public resolver to pick

All four are free. Three of them also support DNS over HTTPS in this system with no extra setup.

Which one is fastest depends on where you are and on your provider’s routing. There’s no universal winner. We’d test it: set one, browse a few new sites, then try the next.

Most people won’t feel a difference between Cloudflare and Google. The jump from a struggling ISP resolver to either one is the part you notice.

Filtering variants

Cloudflare runs two filtered versions of its resolver next to the plain one.

OpenDNS is the other common choice for filtering. For a family PC, we’d start with the Cloudflare family pair and see whether it’s enough.

Mixing providers

Mixing providers is fine too. Plenty of people pair Cloudflare as preferred with Quad9 as alternate. Windows may use either one, though. So filtering or encryption is only as strong as the weaker of the two.

Change the DNS server in Windows 11 to Google

The most asked pair. Google Public DNS, same Edit button in Settings, Manual, IPv4 on:

From PowerShell, as admin, swap the adapter name if yours isn’t Wi-Fi:

Set-DnsClientServerAddress -InterfaceAlias "Wi-Fi" -ServerAddresses "8.8.8.8","8.8.4.4"

Google’s own check is plain. A site by name. Close the browser, reopen, refresh a few times. Then a site by raw IP address. IP loads, name doesn’t? DNS is the culprit, so roll it back. Their Google Public DNS setup page has the same addresses for older adapters too.

Turning on DNS over HTTPS for the DNS server in Windows 11

It encrypts your lookups. The setting sits in the same Edit window as the servers.

1. Follow the Settings steps until you see the Preferred and Alternate DNS fields.
2. Enter a server that’s known to support DoH. Cloudflare, Google or Quad9.
3. Under DNS over HTTPS, choose the option for the automatic template.
4. Decide about Fallback to plaintext. Off gives you encrypted-only lookups. On keeps DNS working when encryption fails.
5. Repeat for the alternate server, and for IPv6 if you set it.
6. Click Save. The servers now show the word Encrypted.

When the option is greyed out

The drop-down stays grey for servers that aren’t on the system’s list of known DoH resolvers. You can see that list in PowerShell. And you can add another resolver to it:

Get-DnsClientDohServerAddress
Add-DnsClientDohServerAddress -ServerAddress '<IP>' -DohTemplate '<URL>' -AllowFallbackToUdp $False -AutoUpgrade $True

Or pick the manual template option in Settings and paste the provider’s template URL. Microsoft documents these cmdlets in its DNS over HTTPS client article.

On a company laptop joined to Active Directory, leave DoH and the DNS servers alone unless IT says otherwise. Domain sign-in, file shares and printers depend on the internal DNS servers. Microsoft itself warns against requiring DoH on domain-joined PCs.

Admins can set DoH centrally with a policy named Configure DNS over HTTPS name resolution. The Group Policy editor has it on Windows 11 Pro and Enterprise.

Change the IPv6 DNS server in Windows 11 too

Yes, if your connection has IPv6. The system prefers IPv6 when it’s available. Change only the IPv4 DNS, and many lookups may still go to the provider’s IPv6 resolver.

So set the IPv6 addresses from the same provider. For Cloudflare these two:

2606:4700:4700::1111
2606:4700:4700::1001

Do you have IPv6 at all? Run ipconfig and look at the addresses. One that starts with 2 or 3 points to a dual-stack connection. An address starting with fe80 alone doesn’t count.

In Settings, turn on the IPv6 switch under DNS server assignment and enter the pair. In Control Panel, use the TCP/IPv6 properties.

Pages slower after adding IPv6 DNS? The IPv6 path of your network may be flaky. Remove the IPv6 DNS entries first. We’d disable IPv6 on the adapter only as a last resort, because some Windows features expect it.

Checking that it works

ipconfig /all
ipconfig /flushdns
nslookup hypestkey.com
Resolve-DnsName hypestkey.com

A DNS leak test website confirms what the browser really uses. Expect your new provider there, not your ISP.

Browsers can override Windows here. Chrome, Edge and Firefox each have their own secure DNS setting. With it on, they may use another resolver than the one you just configured. If the leak test surprises you, we’d check the browser’s privacy settings first.

When the DNS server change in Windows 11 doesn’t stick

Five reasons cover nearly all of it. The servers are blocked on that network. A VPN replaces your DNS with its own. The browser uses its own secure DNS. A policy or management tool resets the setting. Or you edited another adapter.

Go back to automatic DNS first, to get access back. Then check each cause in turn.

Internet still dead after reverting? Then the problem isn’t DNS. Our guide to fixing Wi-Fi problems in Windows 11 walks through adapter resets, drivers and a network reset.

On an older PC the same ideas apply in another layout. See changing DNS servers in Windows 10.

Going back to automatic

In Settings, open DNS server assignment, click Edit and choose the automatic option, the one labeled DHCP. The system uses your router’s servers again.

From the command line, the last line of either block above does the same. It takes seconds, and nothing else on the PC changes.

With a VPN running

Most VPN apps bring their own DNS and switch to it the moment the tunnel comes up. Your manual servers wait in the background until you disconnect. That’s by design. If you want a particular resolver inside the tunnel, we’d look for the DNS option in the VPN app itself.

On the router instead

At home that’s usually the better option. Set the DNS servers in the router’s DHCP or WAN settings. Every device on the network picks them up, phones and TVs included.

You can still override it per PC with the steps above. Some routers supplied by providers lock this field. Then the per-PC method is the only way.

Is it safe, and does it make things faster

Safe, yes. A DNS change only affects how names get looked up. It can be undone at any time.

Faster, sometimes. Pages can start loading sooner, because the lookup is quicker. Download speed stays the same. The gain shows mainly when your provider’s DNS servers are slow or unreliable.

The one place we’d leave it alone is a work PC joined to a domain. Internal resources depend on the company’s DNS servers.

Typical DNS problems and fixes

Hotel Wi-Fi login page doesn’t show with manual DNS

A laptop with manual DNS joins the hotel Wi-Fi, and nothing loads. The captive portal needs the network’s own DNS. Back to automatic, sign in, then the manual servers again.

DNS servers keep switching back to the old ones

The servers get changed, and an hour later they’re the old ones. A security suite with its own web protection was resetting them. The DNS choice had to be made inside that program.

A DNS leak test shows a different provider

Settings show Cloudflare, and the leak test shows someone else. The browser had secure DNS switched on with its own provider. One setting in the browser, and both agree.

Windows 11 versions and adapters this guide covers

The DNS over HTTPS settings need Windows 11. Windows 10 has no DoH option in Settings.

Try a provider and keep it if browsing feels snappier or safer. Move on if it doesn’t. It’s one of the few network tweaks you can undo in seconds.

Related guides

• Setting Up and Managing FTP Servers in Windows 11
• 0x80072EE7: activation fails because a server name isn’t resolved
• 0x8007232B: the DNS name does not exist during activation