Troubleshooting Domain Name System (DNS) issues

Try our Virtual Agent - It can help you quickly identify and fix common DNS issues.

Domain Name resolution issues can be broken down into client-side and server-side issues. In general, you should start with client-side troubleshooting unless you determine during the scoping phase that the issue is definitely occurring on the server side.

Data Collection

We recommend that you simultaneously collect data on both the client and server sides when the issue occurs. However, depending on the actual issue, you can start your collection at a single data set on either the DNS client or DNS server.

To collect a Windows Networking Diagnostic from an affected client and its configured DNS server, follow these steps:

  1. Start network captures on the client and server:

    netsh trace start capture=yes tracefile=c:\%computername%_nettrace.etl
    
  2. Clear the DNS cache on the DNS client by running the following command:

    ipconfig /flushdns
    
  3. Reproduce the issue.

  4. Stop and save traces:

    netsh trace stop
    
  5. Save the Nettrace.cab files from each computer. This information will be helpful when you contact Microsoft Support.