Overview

Your DNS cache stores the locations (IP addresses) of webservers that contain pages which you have recently viewed. If the location of the web server changes before the entry in your DNS cache updates, you can no longer access the site.

If you encounter a large number of HTML 404 error codes, you may need to clear your DNS cache. After you clear your DNS cache, your computer will query nameservers for the new DNS information.

How to clear your DNS cache

The following methods allow you to remove old and inaccurate DNS information that may result in 404 errors.

Windows® 8

To clear your DNS cache if you use Windows 8, perform the following steps:

1. Press Win+X to open the WinX Menu.
2. Right-click on Command Prompt and select Run as Administrator.
3. Run the following command:   ipconfig /flushdns

If the command succeeded, the system returns the following message:
Windows IP configuration successfully flushed the DNS Resolver Cache.

Windows 7

To clear your DNS cache if you use Windows 7, perform the following steps:

1. Click the Start button.
2. Enter cmd in the Start menu search text box.
3. Right-click on Command Prompt and select Run as Administrator.
4. Run the following command and press Enter: ipconfig /flushdns

If the command succeeds, the system returns the following output:
Windows IP configuration successfully flushed the DNS Resolver Cache.

Windows XP, 2000, or Vista®

To clear your DNS cache if you use Windows XP, 2000, or Vista®, perform the following steps:

1. Click the Start button.
2. On the Start menu, click Run….  If you do not see the Run command in Vista, enter run in the Search bar.
3. Run the following command in the Run text box: ipconfig /flushdns

If the command succeeds, the system returns the following output:
Successfully flushed the DNS Resolver Cache.

MacOS® 10.10

To clear your DNS cache if you use MacOS X version 10.10, perform the following steps:

1. Click Applications.
2. Click Utilities.
3. Click the Terminal application.
4. Run the following command: sudo discoveryutil mdnsflushcache

If the command succeeds, the system does not return any output.

MacOS 10.7, 10.8, and 10.9

To clear your DNS cache if you use MacOS X version 10.7, 10.8, or 10.9, perform the following steps:

1. Click Applications.
2. Click Utilities.
3. Double-click the Terminal application.
4. Run the following command: sudo killall -HUP mDNSResponder

If the command succeeds, the system does not return any output.

MacOS 10.5 and 10.6

To clear your DNS cache if you use MacOS X version 10.5 or 10.6, perform the following steps:

1. Click Applications.
2. Click Utilities.
3. Double-click the Terminal application.
4. Run the following command: sudo dscacheutil -flushcache

If the command was successful, the system does not return any output.