Step-by-Step Guide: How to Set Different DNS Settings on Windows 10 Devices

You can change the DNS server when you are experiencing an internet connection issue. Changing the DNS server can enhance your online security, privacy, and speed of browsing. You can limit the access of your children to inappropriate content or access to the contents that are blocked in your country by changing your DNS server.

In this article, I represent how to set different DNS settings on devices running Windows 10. to find out more, read the following content.

What is DNS?

DNS stands for Domain Name System. When you want to visit a website, you just need to type its domain name, such as google.com. Computers understand IP addresses and DNS is a translation of IP addresses so that it will be easy to use.

An IP address consists of numbers separated via dots. For instance, http://173.194.203.106/ is one of Google’s IP addresses.

You will be assigned a default DNS by your internet service provider; however, you can always change it on Windows 10.

Some Free Public DNS Servers

• Google: 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4
• Cloudflare: 1.1.1.1 and 1.0.0.1
• OpenDNS: 208.67.222.222 and 208.67.220.220

How to Change DNS Server on Windows 10?

There are three methods to change DNS settings on Windows 10. Here it is:

1.      Changing DNS Server Using Settings

Walk through the steps below to change the DNS server via Settings on Windows 10.

1. Go to the Start menu.
2. Open Settings.
3. Go to the Network & Internet section.
4. Select the Ethernet or Wi-Fi option from the left-side menu.
5. Select your current internet network.
6. Hit the Edit button under IP settings.
7. Select Manual from the drop-down menu.
8. Switch the IPV4 toggle and turn it on.
9. Enter the primary DNS address for the Preferred DNS server option.
10. Enter the secondary DNS address for the Alternate DNS server option.
11. Hit the Save button.
12. Restart your PC.
13. Now, your device will use a new DNS server after the restart.

2.      Changing DNS Server Using Control Panel

You can also change the DNS server of your device via Control Panel. To do so, follow the steps below:

1. Go to the Start menu.
2.  Open Control Panel.
3. Go to the Network and Internet section.
4. Select Network and Sharing Center.
5. Click on the Change adapter settings option in the left-side pane.
6. Right-click on your current internet connection.
7. Choose the Properties option from the menu.
8. In the pop-up window, click on Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) and hit the Properties button.
9. Click on the Use the following DNS server addresses option.
10. Enter the primary DNS address and secondary DNS address for the Preferred DNS server and Alternate DNS server fields, respectively.
11. Now, you can hit the OK button and change your DNS server.
12. You can perform more settings by clicking on the Advanced button.
13. In the pop-up window, go to the DNS tab.
14. Hit the Add button of the DNS server addresses, in order of use field.
15. Here, you can enter an alternate DNS server.
16. Hit the Add button of the Append these DNS suffixes (in order) field.
17. Hit the OK button and then close the window.
18. Now, your device is using the new DNS server.

3.      Changing DNS Server Using Command Prompt

Use the following steps to change the DNS settings via Command Prompts on Windows 10.

1. Go to the Start menu.
2. Type the command prompt into the Windows search bar.
3. Right-click on the first result and choose the Run as administrator option from the menu.
4. Once the command prompt window pops up, copy and paste the following command to launch the changing network tool: netsh
5. Hit the Enter button.
6. To diagnose the network adapters name, copy and paste the following command: interface show interface
7. Hit the Enter button.
8. To set the Primary DNS server, copy and paste this command: interface ip set dns name=”ADAPTER-NAME” source=”static” address=”X.X.X.X”. Replace the ADAPTER-NAME with the name of your network adaptor and X.X.X.X with your desired IP address. For example, interface ip set dns name=”Ethernet1″ source=”static” address=”1.1.1.1″.
9. To add an alternative DNS IP address, you will need to copy and paste the following command: interface ip add dns name=”ADAPTER-NAME” addr=”X.X.X.X” index=2. Replace the ADAPTER-NAME with the name of your network adaptor, and X.X.X.X with the secondary address. For example, interface ip add dns name=”Ethernet1″ addr=”1.0.0.1″ index=2
10. If you want to add more addresses, you can repeat the above steps, but note that every time you want to add a new one, you need to rocket the index number by 1.
11. Once you have completed the above steps, your PC will use the new IP address.

Last Words

You may experience a situation in which you have an internet connection issue, so you will need to change the DNS server of your device. In this article, we described three methods to set up a different DNS server on your Windows 10 device. Do you know any other methods? Share your ideas with us.