One of the issue you may need to troubleshoot when upgrading to the Windows 10 Anniversary Update is a conflict between your computer and it’s associated DNS settings which can lead to DNS connection issues.
DNS, or Domain Name Servers, are the web’s phone book, which enables your PC to find a website and display it in your browser. The IP addresses of websites are translated into domain names and if this information gets jumbled, it is difficult for your PC to load your favorite websites and internet destinations.
Let’s look at how to troubleshoot DNS issues after installing or upgrading to the Windows 10 Anniversary Update.
Resolving the DNS Connection Issues in Windows 10
The Basic Troubleshooting Steps
1) Check Your Network Connectivity and Power Cycle Your Network
Despite your internet being down, you may not realize it is if your internet icon isn’t displaying that information to you timely. Right-click your internet icon in the taskbar or open the Network and Sharing Center via Cortana.
Click on your connection and ensure you’re receiving a signal. If you are, power cycle your home network. To do this, turn off your PC first. Then, unplug your modem, router and/or gateway from the wall.
Let everything sit for at least 30 seconds, then plug your modem and/or gateway back in. Once powered up, if necessary, plug in your router. Once everything has cycled back to normal, turn on your PC and check your connection again.
2) Verify Your DNS Settings
If you’re still having issues after checking your connectivity and power cycling, you’ll want to check your DNS settings. For 90 percent of Windows users, these should be automatically fetched from your internet service provider (ISP).
and refreshed each time you power cycle your modem or gateway. If you’ve ever tinkered with your DNS settings, then you may be running into some issues.
To check them, you’ll go back to your Network and Sharing Center and click on your primary connection.
Click on “Properties,” then navigate to your IPv4 settings.
Make sure “Obtain an IP address automatically” and “Obtain DNS server address automatically” are checked, even if you’ve used custom information before. The only way you should use a custom IP address is if you have a dedicated IP. If that’s the case, leave this setting alone and just check the DNS setting option.
Restart your PC, then check your connection. If this still doesn’t work, consider using OpenDNS, Google DNS, or other openly provided DNS servers other than your ISPs.
See Also: Use OpenDNS To Improve Internet Speed and Get Phishing Protection
3) Run the Windows Network Diagnostics Tool
In the same area where you’d tinker with the DNS settings, you’ll find a Diagnose button at the bottom of the window. Your next step is to click on that.
This will run the Windows Network Diagnostics troubleshooting. This built-in Windows tool will check for internet issues, correct them for you, and hopefully fix an issue you can’t figure out or can’t find yourself.
This tool can be hit or miss depending on the issue and will only fix issues with the Windows OS, not your ISP’s side of things.
The Advanced Troubleshooting Step
1) Release and Renew DHCP
If the above hasn’t fixed the issue, you can try releasing your DHCP and DNS settings via the Command Prompt. Sometimes your IP address and DNS settings can get bungled, which will cause conflict with one another and need to be reset to fix the issue.
Open the Administrator: Command Prompt by searching for it with Cortana or by using the Win-X Menu.
Once there, you’ll enter the following commands:
ipconfig /release
ipconfig /renew
Restart your PC afterward to see if it corrected the issues you’re having. If not, time to move on to the next troubleshooting step.
2) Contact Your ISP
At this point, if the above hasn’t worked, you’ll want to reach out to your ISP. Find out if there’s a service outage in your area and if there’s an ETA on when it’ll be back up. They will walk you through troubleshooting steps as well, so work with them even if you’ve already performed similar steps.
Worst case scenario is they’ll schedule a tech to come out and look at your setup, wiring, and connection. By the time you reach this troubleshooting step, you’re either looking at hardware failure on your computer or an issue with the connection to your home or location.
Conclusion
Internet issues, specifically DNS issues, are one of the most frustrating types of troubleshooting you can do.
By following the steps above you’ve done what you can on your end to troubleshoot the issue and it’s time to get the big guns involved to get everything squared away and up and running again after the Windows 10 Anniversary Update.
