# ERR_NAME_NOT_RESOLVED: fix it on Android and desktop

> ERR_NAME_NOT_RESOLVED means Chrome could not get any usable DNS answer for the address, so it had nothing to connect to. Here is the Android fix ladder with the exact settings paths, the short desktop version, and the rare case where the site is the cause.

Updated 2026-10-23 · Best practices · HTML version: https://getreport.app/guides/err-name-not-resolved

ERR_NAME_NOT_RESOLVED is Chrome's message when it could not turn the address you typed into an IP address: the DNS lookup produced no usable answer at all, so there was nothing to connect to. It appears under the same ["This site can't be reached"](https://getreport.app/guides/this-site-cant-be-reached) headline as half a dozen other codes, but this one points at the name lookup, and almost always at your own device or network rather than the website. That is also why phones see it so often: on Android, Wi-Fi, mobile data, Private DNS and VPN apps all take turns answering DNS, and any one of them can stop. Here are the Android fixes in order with the exact settings paths, the short desktop version, and the one rare case where the site's owner has to act.

## Quick answer

- **Toggle airplane mode** on for 10 seconds and off, then reload the page.
- **Switch between Wi-Fi and mobile data.** If the page loads on one and not the other, the broken network's DNS is the cause, not the site.
- **Check Private DNS**: Settings → Network & internet → Private DNS (Samsung: under Connections → More connection settings). Set it to **Automatic**; a mistyped hostname there breaks every lookup on the phone.
- **Clear Chrome's own DNS cache**: paste `chrome://net-internals/#dns` into the address bar and tap **Clear host cache**.
- **On desktop**, flush the system DNS cache and switch your DNS server to `1.1.1.1` or `8.8.8.8`: the [shared checklist in the umbrella guide](https://getreport.app/guides/this-site-cant-be-reached) has the Windows and macOS paths.
- **Site owners**: a broken domain usually shows DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_NXDOMAIN instead. If visitors report this code in numbers, check whether your name servers answer from outside.

## What ERR_NAME_NOT_RESOLVED means

Before any page loads, the browser asks a DNS resolver to turn the host name into an IP address: [what DNS is and how a lookup travels](https://getreport.app/guides/what-is-dns) walks through that chain. Chrome shows ERR_NAME_NOT_RESOLVED when that lookup ends with no usable address: the device has no working path to a resolver, the resolver never answered or refused to, or the lookup failed inside the device itself.

That makes it different from its close sibling. DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_NXDOMAIN is a definite answer (a name server replied "this name does not exist") which points first at the domain: a typo, an expired registration, a missing record. ERR_NAME_NOT_RESOLVED is the absence of an answer, which points first at your own DNS setup: the network, the resolver, a VPN or a Private DNS entry. The fixes for the domain-side case live in [the NXDOMAIN guide](https://getreport.app/guides/dns-probe-finished-nxdomain); everything below deals with the device and network side, where this code is almost always earned.

![Diagram: a phone asks "where is example.com?" and gets nothing back over three broken paths (no network, resolver down, Private DNS misconfigured) while a dimmed side panel shows the NXDOMAIN case, where the resolver answers "no such name"](https://getreport.app/guides/img/err-name-not-resolved/diagram.svg "ERR_NAME_NOT_RESOLVED is a lookup that got no usable answer; NXDOMAIN is a lookup that was answered with no.")

One more thing worth knowing: Chrome does part of its DNS work itself. It keeps its own host cache, separate from the operating system's, and its Secure DNS feature resolves names over HTTPS instead of handing them to the system. That is why Chrome can show this error while another app on the same device loads the site fine, and why two of the fixes below are Chrome settings, not system ones.

## Fix it on Android

Most searches for this error come from a phone, so start here. Work down the list and stop when the page loads.

1. **Toggle airplane mode.** Swipe down, turn airplane mode on, wait 10 seconds, turn it off. This drops and rebuilds the connection, including the DNS servers the network hands out, and clears a surprising share of stuck lookups.

2. **Switch networks: Wi-Fi off, mobile data on (or the reverse).** This is the diagnosis step. Loads on mobile data but not Wi-Fi? The Wi-Fi network's DNS is broken; reboot the router, or tell whoever runs the network. Loads on Wi-Fi but not mobile data? Your carrier's resolver is hiccuping; it usually passes. Fails on both? Keep going.

3. **Check Private DNS.** On stock Android, open Settings → **Network & internet** → **Private DNS**; on Samsung phones it sits under Settings → **Connections** → **More connection settings** → **Private DNS**. The setting encrypts DNS lookups (DNS over TLS) and has three modes: Off, Automatic, and a custom provider hostname. Set it to **Automatic** and retest.

   The custom field is the classic trap. It takes a hostname such as `dns.google` or `one.one.one.one`: not an IP address like `8.8.8.8`, and not a URL. One wrong character and every lookup on the phone dies with ERR_NAME_NOT_RESOLVED. The same field is behind the "Private DNS server cannot be accessed" / hostname can't be verified message: the hostname is mistyped, or the network blocks port 853, which encrypted DNS needs; common on hotel, school and office Wi-Fi. Automatic sidesteps both, because it falls back to ordinary DNS when the encrypted kind fails.

4. **Clear Chrome's host cache.** Chrome keeps its own DNS cache. Paste `chrome://net-internals/#dns` into the address bar and tap **Clear host cache**, then reload the tab. If the error persists for one site you visit often, also clear cached files: Chrome menu ⋮ → Settings → Privacy and security → **Clear browsing data** → Cached images and files.

5. **Check Chrome's Secure DNS.** Chrome menu ⋮ → Settings → **Privacy and security** → **Use secure DNS**. The default (on, with your current service provider) is fine: Chrome upgrades to encrypted DNS when the provider supports it and falls back when it doesn't. The failure mode is a custom provider chosen here that your network blocks: set it back to the default and retest.

6. **Pause VPN and ad-blocking apps.** Android VPNs (including ad blockers that implement filtering as a local VPN) take over the phone's DNS entirely. When such an app crashes or loses its upstream, every lookup fails while the VPN icon still shows. Disconnect it from its app or from Settings → Network & internet → VPN, and retest; if that was it, update or reinstall the app before switching it back on.

7. **Reset network settings** (last resort). Settings → System → **Reset options** → **Reset Wi-Fi, mobile & Bluetooth** (some phones label it "Reset network settings"), confirm, then restart the phone. This wipes saved Wi-Fi networks and passwords, Bluetooth pairings and VPN configurations, so expect to set those up again, but it clears every accumulated network misconfiguration in one move.

## Fix it on desktop

The desktop causes are the same family (a stale cache, a dead or filtered resolver, a VPN or proxy in the way) and the [umbrella guide's six-step checklist](https://getreport.app/guides/this-site-cant-be-reached) covers them with the exact Windows 11 and macOS paths. In short: flush the system DNS cache (`ipconfig /flushdns` on Windows), clear Chrome's host cache at `chrome://net-internals/#dns`, switch your DNS server to `1.1.1.1` or `8.8.8.8`, restart the router, pause the VPN and antivirus web protection, and check for a leftover proxy. Chrome's Secure DNS setting from step 5 exists on desktop too, under the same Privacy and security menu.

## Hotel Wi-Fi, captive portals and routers

Networks that make you sign in through a web page (hotels, airports, cafés) often answer no DNS at all until you do. If every site fails with ERR_NAME_NOT_RESOLVED right after joining, you are probably stuck in front of the portal: open the network's sign-in notification, or visit a plain HTTP page such as `http://neverssl.com` to force the portal to appear. After signing in, DNS starts answering.

At home, the router is the resolver for every device. When phones, laptops and the TV all show name errors at once, reboot it: off for 30 seconds, then on. If one device keeps failing after that, give it a public DNS server directly (step 4 of the umbrella checklist) so it stops depending on the router's.

## When it's your site

Rarely. A domain that is expired, misdelegated or missing a record produces NXDOMAIN (a definite "no such name") rather than this code, because resolvers can be reached and do answer. When visitors report ERR_NAME_NOT_RESOLVED in ones and twos, their network is almost always the cause, and the Android ladder above is what to send them. The owner-side case that does produce this code at scale is your DNS host being down: when none of your name servers answer at all, resolvers time out instead of saying no. Check your DNS host's status page, and work through [the owner section of the NXDOMAIN guide](https://getreport.app/guides/dns-probe-finished-nxdomain) (`whois`, then `dig` against a public resolver and your own name servers) which separates "answers with an error" from "does not answer" in two commands.

A quick outside check runs without a terminal:

> **Free tool:** [DMARC checker: free SPF, DKIM and MX record check](https://getreport.app/tools/email-dns-check): Free DMARC checker that also tests SPF, DKIM and MX. See what is missing or broken and get the exact DNS records to add. No sign-up, results in seconds.

Enter your domain: the check reads its live MX, SPF, DKIM and DMARC records from getReport's own resolvers; the same kind of lookup your visitors' networks make. If those records come back, your DNS is answering the wider internet and the complaining visitor's network is the likelier cause; if nothing can be read from a domain that has email records, your name servers are the problem.

## Questions people ask

### What does ERR_NAME_NOT_RESOLVED mean?

It means Chrome could not turn the address into an IP address: the DNS lookup produced no usable answer, so the browser had nothing to connect to. The cause is usually on your side (no working path to a DNS resolver, a resolver that is down or blocked, a broken Private DNS or VPN setting) and only rarely the website's own DNS. Unlike NXDOMAIN, no server said the name doesn't exist; the lookup simply failed.

### How do I fix ERR_NAME_NOT_RESOLVED on Android?

Toggle airplane mode on and off, then switch between Wi-Fi and mobile data to see which network fails. Next check Settings → Network & internet → Private DNS and set it to Automatic, clear Chrome's cache at `chrome://net-internals/#dns`, reset Chrome's Secure DNS setting to its default, and pause any VPN or ad-blocking app. If nothing helps, reset network settings under Settings → System → Reset options and restart the phone.

### What is Private DNS on Android and can it cause this error?

Private DNS is Android's built-in encrypted DNS (DNS over TLS), set under Network & internet (Connections on Samsung). Yes, it can cause ERR_NAME_NOT_RESOLVED two ways: a mistyped provider hostname (the field wants a name like `dns.google`, not an IP address) kills every lookup, and many hotel, school and office networks block port 853, which encrypted DNS needs. Automatic fixes both, because it falls back to ordinary DNS.

### Why does only Chrome show ERR_NAME_NOT_RESOLVED?

The exact string is Chrome's own error code, shared by Chromium-based browsers such as Edge and Brave; Firefox and Safari describe the same failed lookup in their own words. Chrome can also genuinely fail alone: it keeps its own DNS host cache and, with Secure DNS, resolves names itself over HTTPS. A stale host cache or a blocked Secure DNS provider breaks Chrome while other apps on the device still load the site.

### Why does my site show ERR_NAME_NOT_RESOLVED for some visitors?

Because their lookups are failing, usually on their side: a broken Private DNS entry, a stale VPN or ad blocker, a filtered network, or their provider's resolver. Your domain is only the cause when your DNS host's name servers stop answering entirely, then resolvers everywhere time out. Test from outside: if `dig @1.1.1.1 yourdomain.com A` returns your address, your DNS answers and the affected visitors' networks are the problem.

### Can a VPN or ad blocker cause ERR_NAME_NOT_RESOLVED?

Yes, and on Android it is one of the most common causes. VPNs route all DNS through their own resolvers, and most mobile ad blockers register as a local VPN that filters DNS answers. When the app loses its upstream, crashes or blocks a name wrongly, every lookup (or just that site) fails. Disconnect the VPN or pause the blocker; if the page then loads, update the app or add the site as an exception.