A DNS changer that starts by telling you where you are
Most guides to changing DNS jump straight to typing addresses into a dialog three menus deep. A DNS changer is more useful when it first answers the question you actually have: which server is this PC using right now, and who chose it?
DNS Switcher opens on a route for the selected adapter, written as This PC, Over the adapter name, Asks the server. Under it, one line says whether that server was handed out by your router, with nothing pinned on the adapter, or pinned by hand. That difference explains most changes that seem to do nothing: a value typed into one adapter, while traffic leaves through another.
Below the route sits Send lookups to, a list of resolvers in three groups, Popular, Filtering and Others, each with its addresses and a short note on what it is for. Pick one, press Apply, confirm, and approve the Windows permission prompt. The new server is marked in use as soon as the change lands.
How to change DNS server on Windows 11 or 10 with DNS Switcher
The steps are the same on both versions of Windows.
- Choose the network adapter from the menu at the top: Wi-Fi, Ethernet or a VPN connection. Everything below follows that choice.
- Read the route to see what the adapter asks today.
- Under Send lookups to, pick a resolver, or pick Something else and type a Preferred and an optional Alternate address.
- Press Apply. With Ask before changing an adapter on, a dialog names the adapter and the server first.
- Approve the Windows prompt. Changing DNS needs administrator rights, and the whole change runs under that single prompt.
What is my DNS server? Reading the adapter details
Open Adapter details under the list for the full picture of the selected connection: its IPv4 and IPv6 addresses, the Router, the MAC address, whether the address came from DHCP or was Set by hand, and both the DNS in use and the IPv6 DNS servers. The refresh button beside the adapter menu reads everything again after you plug in a cable or join a new network.
Adapters that are down, such as an unplugged port or a virtual adapter left by a VM or a VPN, are hidden by default. Turn on List adapters that are down to show them and set a server on one before you use it.
Ad blocking DNS and family filters, chosen from a list
Filtering at the DNS level means a blocked name never gets an address, so the page or ad simply does not load, in every browser and app on the PC. The Filtering group holds four resolvers: one that drops ads and trackers, one that blocks malware and adult sites, and two family options that block adult sites, one of which also forces safe search.
If you run your own filter on the home network, choose Something else and type its address. Typed addresses are IPv4 only, so the adapter keeps its current IPv6 servers.
Why a DNS change seems to do nothing, and the two settings that fix it
Two things commonly undo a switch. First, Windows keeps a cache of answers and goes on using the old server's replies until each one expires. Clear the lookup cache afterwards, on by default, flushes it right after the change, so you do not have to run a flush DNS command yourself.
Second, many home connections carry IPv6 as well as IPv4. If only the IPv4 server changes, lookups can still travel to the old one over IPv6. Set the IPv6 servers too, also on by default, applies the resolver's IPv6 pair alongside its IPv4 pair.
