DNS-Server are crucial for surfing the Internet. Thanks to them, the web browser is able to convert domains, eg www.malavida.com, into the IP address of the responsible server. In most cases, the Internet provider itself provides a server that resolves the domain names. However, you can define your own for various reasons. For example, you might want to improve network performance or enjoy more privacy. In any case, in this article you will find all the ways you can change the DNS on your Windows 11 computer.
Here’s how to change DNS from the Settings app
As always, we’ll start with the simplest method. To do this, open the Settings app and visit the section Network & internet. There you click on the adapter options. If you’re using a cable, see here Ethernet. In our test bench we connected via WLAN. So we had to get up Wi-Fi click.
Open the network adapter configuration
Click on the name of the network you’re connected to to continue.
Open network options
Scroll through the list of options until you DNS server assignment find. Click on the button Editto change the settings.
Edit DNS address
Change the DNS server assignment and set up the option Manual.
Select manual assignment
Activate the section IPv4 and enter the IP of the DNS server you want to use. You can designate a primary server and an alternate server in case the first one goes down.
Specify DNS server
use Saveto save your changes. You are now using the DNS you specified.
How to change the DNS server from the Control Panel
In the control panel there’s still a wizard that lets you change the DNS for every network you’re connected to. Just click Network and Internet.
network options
In the next window click on the link Network and Sharing Center.
Network settings and other Control Panel options
Click on the name of the network you’re currently connected to
Select DNS options
In the dialog that appears, click the button Proper.
network properties
Search in the window Wi-Fi Properties the internet protocol version 4 in the list and open the settings. Then activate the option Use the following DNS server addresses. When you do this, the text box below will become active and you can change the DNS server IP.
Specify DNS server
As in the previous case, it is also possible to enter a second address as an alternative to the first. We recommend you do this if you want to reduce possible connection problems as much as possible.
How to change DNS IP address via PowerShell
Finally, we will talk about changing the DNS server via the PowerShell speak. If you decide to use this method, you need to know some special commands. In addition, you must run the PowerShell as an administrator.
You can do this with Windows search. First search for the Windows PowerShell and then click Run as administrator.
Access to PowerShell
Then enter the following command and start it:
Get-NetIPConfiguration
In the window you will see a list of all the network adapters on the device. Find out which ones you use and look at the section InterfaceIndex on. In our case, the WLAN device has the number 6.
Access to network adapters
With the above information in mind, enter the following command.
Set-DnsClientServerAddress -InterfaceIndex 6 -ServerAddresses 8.8.8.8
Where we wrote “6”, enter the number that corresponds to your adapter in the InterfaceIndex stands. And in the place where we typed “8.8.8.8.8,” type in the IP address of the DNS server you want to use. We’ve included this data in the command so you can easily see what the final format should look like.
Change the DNS of the selected interface
When you’re done, run the command Get-NetIPConfiguration off again.
Check the change
This is how you can check if the new DNS has been installed for the network adapter you are using.