How to Clear and Flush the DNS Cache in Google Chrome

When you type a website address like digitash.com into Google Chrome, the browser does not actually know where that website lives. It must first contact a Domain Name System (DNS) server to translate that human-readable name into a machine-readable IP address (like 192.0.2.1). To speed up your web browsing experience, Chrome temporarily stores (caches) these IP addresses internally. However, if a website recently migrated to a new server or changed its hosting provider, Chrome might stubbornly try to load the old, cached IP address, resulting in connection timeouts or “Site Not Found” errors. To force Chrome to fetch the absolute latest routing data, you must flush its internal DNS cache.

Flushing the Chrome Host Resolver Cache

Google Chrome’s internal DNS cache is completely separate from your computer’s operating system cache. You cannot clear it from the standard Chrome Settings menu; you must access a hidden, internal diagnostic page.

1. Open a new tab in Google Chrome.
2. Click into the address bar (the Omnibox) at the top of the screen.
3. Type the following exact command into the address bar and press Enter: chrome://net-internals/#dns
4. You will be taken to a plain, technical-looking page with a menu on the left side. Ensure DNS is selected.
5. In the main window on the right, you will see a button labeled Clear host cache. Click this button.

Note: There is no confirmation popup or success message. When you click the button, the cache is instantly and silently wiped.

Flushing Active Network Sockets

While clearing the host cache solves the DNS routing problem 90% of the time, Chrome might still be holding open an active, lingering connection to the old server. To ensure a completely clean slate, you should also flush the active network sockets.

1. On that same hidden chrome://net-internals page, look at the menu on the left side of the screen.
2. Click on Sockets.
3. In the main window on the right, click the button labeled Close idle sockets.
4. Immediately after, click the button labeled Flush socket pools.

The Final Step: Hard Refresh

Now that Chrome’s internal networking cache is completely empty, it is forced to reach out to the internet to find the correct, updated IP address for the website. Navigate back to the website you were trying to visit and perform a “Hard Refresh” to bypass any saved images or HTML files.

• On Windows: Hold the Ctrl key and press F5.
• On Mac: Hold the Cmd and Shift keys, then press R.

The website should now load correctly from its new server location.