When you type a website address like google.com into your browser, Google Chrome relies on a Domain Name System (DNS) server to translate that human-readable name into a machine-readable IP address. To speed up future visits to the same website, Chrome maintains its own internal “DNS Cache,” storing these IP translations locally so it does not have to query the global servers every single time you open a new tab.
However, if a website recently changed its IP address, or if your internet connection experiences a brief hiccup, Chrome’s internal cache can become corrupted. This usually results in a frustrating error page displaying the code DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_NXDOMAIN. Clearing your operating system’s DNS cache will not fix this; you must clear Chrome’s specific, internal DNS cache to force it to look up the fresh IP addresses.
How to Clear the Google Chrome Internal DNS Cache
You must access a hidden internal networking page within Chrome to flush the cache.
- Open the Google Chrome browser.
- Click on the address bar at the top of the window, carefully type the following URL exactly as written, and press Enter:
chrome://net-internals/#dns - You will be taken to a plain, text-heavy diagnostic page with a menu on the left side. Ensure DNS is selected on the left.
- On the right side of the screen, you will see a section labelled “Host resolver cache.”
- Click the button labelled Clear host cache. (Note: There will be no confirmation popup or success message; clicking the button instantly flushes the data).
- Next, look at the menu on the left side again and click on Sockets.
- On the right side of the screen, click the button labelled Flush socket pools.
You can now close this hidden networking tab. Completely exit the Google Chrome browser (ensure you close all open windows) and relaunch it. Your browser will now be forced to fetch fresh, uncorrupted IP addresses from your ISP’s DNS servers, resolving the NXDOMAIN error.