How to Change Your DNS Servers in Windows 11

What a DNS server does — and why the default annoys people

DNS translates domain names like example.com into IP addresses, and every connection starts with that lookup. By default Windows takes the resolver from your router, which forwards queries to your ISP's servers — and ISP resolvers are sometimes slow, occasionally log what you look up, and a few still hijack nonexistent domains to serve ad pages. The resolver's address has no effect on your line's raw bandwidth, only on how quickly names are resolved.

Public resolvers are the alternative: for many users they answer faster, they support modern standards like DNS-over-HTTPS, and some add extras such as malware-domain filtering. The entries below are the popular choices, each with an IPv4 pair and, where relevant, IPv6 addresses for dual-stack connections.

• Cloudflare: 1.1.1.1 and 1.0.0.1, IPv6 2606:4700:4700::1111 and ::1001 — fast, minimal logging
• Google Public DNS: 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4, IPv6 2001:4860:4860::8888 and ::8844 — the classic fallback
• Quad9: 9.9.9.9 and 149.112.112.112 — blocks known malicious domains by default
• OpenDNS: 208.67.222.222 and 208.67.220.220 — optional content-filtering profiles

Changing DNS in Settings — and the classic dialog

The Windows 11 route: press Win+I, go to Network & internet, and open Wi-Fi or Ethernet depending on how you connect. For Wi-Fi, click the connected network's name; for Ethernet, the properties page opens right away. Find the DNS server assignment row — it reads Automatic (DHCP) by default — and click Edit. In the dialog, switch IPv4 to On, enter the preferred and alternate addresses (for example 1.1.1.1 and 1.0.0.1), optionally expand the DNS encryption dropdown, and save. Windows 11 supports encrypted DNS (DoH) for known providers at exactly this spot.

The classic route still exists: press Win+R, type ncpa.cpl, press Enter, right-click your adapter, choose Properties, select Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4), click Properties, tick Use the following DNS server addresses and fill in the two fields. To undo either method, set the assignment back to Automatic (DHCP), or back to Obtain DNS server address automatically in the dialog. After switching, run ipconfig /flushdns so stale cached answers from the old resolver do not linger.

Checking the change and what DNS will not fix

Verify with one command: open Terminal and run nslookup example.com — the first two lines show which server answered, and after the change it should be one of the addresses you entered (Cloudflare's resolver introduces itself as one.one.one.one). PowerShell users can run Get-DnsClientServerAddress to list the servers per adapter. If name resolution breaks after the switch — rare, but possible on corporate networks with internal domains — go back to Automatic; some VPNs also override DNS while connected, which is expected behavior rather than an error.

Keep the expectations straight: a faster resolver speeds up the first connection to a domain, not the transfer itself — downloads and video streams will not gain megabits. It does not bypass blocks that operate on IP addresses, and it does not hide your traffic from the ISP; for that, encrypted DNS or a VPN is the relevant tool. Done right, the whole procedure takes about two minutes and survives reboots, sleep and network changes.

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