- Go to the Control Panel.
- Click Network and Internet > Network and Sharing Center > Change adapter settings.
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Select the connection for which you want to configure Google Public DNS. For example:
- To change the settings for an Ethernet connection, right-click Local Area Connection > Properties.
- To change the settings for a wireless connection, right-click Wireless Network Connection > Properties.
If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.
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Select the Networking tab. Under This connection uses the following items, select Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) or Internet Protocol Version 6 (TCP/IPv6) and then click Properties.
- Click Advanced and select the DNS tab. If there are any DNS server IP addresses listed there, write them down for future reference, and remove them from this window.
- Click OK.
- Select Use the following DNS server addresses. If there are any IP addresses listed in the Preferred DNS server or Alternate DNS server, write them down for future reference.
- Replace those addresses with the IP addresses of the Google DNS servers:
- For IPv4: 8.8.8.8 and/or 8.8.4.4.
- For IPv6: 2001:4860:4860::8888 and/or 2001:4860:4860::8844.
- Restart the connection you selected in step?3.
- Test that your setup is working correctly; see Test your new settings below.
- Repeat the procedure for additional network connections you want to change.
?
Mac OS
DNS settings are specified in the Network window.
Example: Changing DNS server settings on Mac OS 10.5
- Click Apple > System Preferences > Network.
- If the lock icon in the lower left-hand corner of the window is locked, click the icon to make changes, and when prompted to authenticate, enter your password.
- Select the connection for which you want to configure Google Public DNS. For example:
- To change the settings for an Ethernet connection, select Built-In Ethernet, and click Advanced.
- To change the settings for a wireless connection, select Airport, and click Advanced.
- Select the DNS tab.
- Click +to replace any listed addresses with, or add, the Google IP addresses at the top of the list:
- For IPv4: 8.8.8.8 and/or 8.8.4.4.
- For IPv6: 2001:4860:4860::8888 and/or 2001:4860:4860::8844.
- Click Apply > OK.
- Test that your setup is working correctly; see Test your new settings below.
- Repeat the procedure for additional network connections you want to change.
Routers
Every router uses a different user interface for configuring DNS server settings; we provide only a generic procedure below. For more information, please consult your router documentation.
Note: Some ISPs hard-code their DNS servers into the equipment they provide; if you are using such a device, you will not be able to configure it to use Google Public DNS. Instead, you can configure each of the computers connected to the router, as described above.
To change your settings on a router:
- In your browser, enter the IP address to access the router's administration console.
- When prompted, enter the password to access network settings.
- Find the screen in which DNS server settings are specified.
- If there are IP addresses specified in the fields for the primary and seconday DNS servers, write them down for future reference.
- Replace those addresses with the Google IP addresses:
- For IPv4: 8.8.8.8 and/or 8.8.4.4.
- For IPv6: 2001:4860:4860::8888 and/or 2001:4860:4860::8844.
- Save and exit.
- Restart your browser.
- Test that your setup is working correctly; see Test your new settings below.
Mobile or other devices
DNS servers are typically specified under advanced wi-fi settings. However, as every mobile device uses a different user interface for configuring DNS server settings, we provide only a generic procedure below. For more information, please consult your mobile provider's documentation.
To change your settings on a mobile device:
- Go to the screen in which wi-fi settings are specified.
- Find the screen in which DNS server settings are specified.
- If there are IP addresses specified in the fields for the primary and seconday DNS servers, write them down for future reference.
- Replace those addresses with the Google IP addresses:
- For IPv4: 8.8.8.8 and/or 8.8.4.4.
- For IPv6: 2001:4860:4860::8888 and/or 2001:4860:4860::8844.
- Save and exit.
- Test that your setup is working correctly; see Test your new settings below.
Test your new settings
To test that the Google DNS resolver is working:
- From your browser, type in a hostname (such as
http://www.google.com/). If it resolves correctly, bookmark the page, and try accessing the page from the bookmark. If both of these tests work, everything is working correctly. If not, go to step?2. - From your browser, type in a fixed IP address. You can use
http://18.62.0.96/(which points to the websitehttp://www.eecs.mit.edu/) as the URL.1 If this works correctly, bookmark the page, and try accessing the page from the bookmark. If these tests work (but step?1 fails), then there is a problem with your DNS configuration; check the steps above to make sure you have configured everything correctly. If these tests do not work, go to step?3. - Roll back the DNS changes you made and run the tests again. If the tests still do not work, then there is a problem with your network settings; contact your ISP or network administrator for assistance.
1 Google thanks MIT for granting permission to use this URL for the purposes of testing web connectivity.
If you encounter any problems after setting Google Public DNS as your resolver, please run the diagnostic procedure.
Switch back to your old DNS settings
If you had not previously configured any customized DNS servers, to switch back to your old settings, in the window in which you specified the Google IP addresses, select the option to enable obtaining DNS server addresses automatically, and/or delete the Google IP addresses. This will revert your settings to using your ISP's default servers.
If you need to manually specify any addresses, use the procedures above to specify the old IP addresses.
If necessary, restart your system.
