Windows PC
For Windows, you need to go to our old good Control Panel as this option is yet to come in the new Settings app of re-designed Window.
Go to Control Panel > Network and Internet > Network and Sharing Center > Change adapter settings.
Right-click on your active connection network connection, in my case it’s Squawk Net – 5GHz and click on Properties. In case if you have multiple internet connections on your computer like multiple WiFi networks or Ethernet + WiFi then you need to do this separately for each but only if you want to change DNS servers for each of them.
Select “Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCIP/IPv4)” in the list and click “Properties”.
Select “Use the following DNS server addresses, enter the addresses of the DNS servers you want to use, and click “OK”.
If you want to set a custom DNS server for IPv6 connections as well, select “Internet Protocol Version 6 (TCIP/IPv6)”, click “Properties”, and enter the IPv6 addresses as well. Click “OK” when you’re done.
Once you switch your DNS servers on your computer, you may need to flush your DNS cache to ensure your computer is using the latest DNS server for DNS records and not cached DNS records.
OSX (MacBook or iMac or MacPro)
OSX allows you to edit DNS servers for WiFi which will be applied to all the WiFi connections so that you don’t have to make changes to each of them separately.
To change your DNS server, go to from the Apple menu, select System Preferences. The window shown below appears
Click on Network option and select a network interface from the sidebar. By default, your primary network interface is selected. If you use more than one interface to connect to the Internet, use these instructions to update the DNS servers for all of the interfaces. Click on Advanced after selecting your Network.
PS – You may need to click on the lock icon on the left bottom corner
Click the DNS tab. The window shown below appears.
Click the + button to add a new DNS server.
- To use OpenDNS, enter
208.67.222.222and208.67.220.220 - To use Google DNS, enter
8.8.8.8and8.8.4.4
Click on Apply and OK
Android Device (Phone or Tablet)
Similar to Windows, Android also allows change to individual Wi-FI network you connect to has its own DNS server. So, same as windows, if you want to change DNS servers across multiple connections you need to do them for all WiFi connections separately.
To change your DNS server, head to Settings > Wi-Fi, long-press the network you’re connected to, and tap “Modify Network”.
To change DNS settings, tap the “IP settings” box and change it to “Static” instead of the default DHCP. Depending on your device, you may need to check an “Advanced” box to see this setting.
Leave the IP server setting here alone, as this is automatically acquired from the DHCP server. Enter your preferred primary and secondary DNS servers in the “DNS 1” and “DNS 2” settings and then save your settings.
iPhone or iPad
Again in iOS, you need to edit individual Wi-Fi network’s DNS server to change DNS servers, so you’ll have to do this for each Wi-Fi network you use.
To change your DNS server on an iPhone or iPad, head to Settings > Wi-Fi and tap the “i” button to the right of the Wi-Fi network you want to configure. Scroll down and tap the “Configure DNS” option under DNS.
Tap “Manual” and remove any DNS server addresses you don’t want to use from the list by tapping the red minus sign. Tap the green plus sign and type any DNS server addresses you want to use. You can enter both IPv4 and IPv6 addresses in this list. Tap “Save” when you’re done.
You can always tap “Automatic” here again to restore the default DNS server settings for the network.
Chromebook
This option is built into Chrome OS, too. But, as on iPhones, iPads, and Android devices, you can only change the DNS server for one network at a time. You’ll have to change it for each Wi-Fi network you connect to if you want to use it everywhere.
On a Chromebook, head to Settings > Wi-Fi and click the name of the Wi-Fi network you’re connected to.
Click the “Network” header to expand it and locate the “Name servers” section. Click the “Automatic name servers” box and set it to either “Google name servers” if you want to use the Google Public DNS servers, or click “Custom name servers” if you want to enter custom DNS servers.
Enter the DNS servers you want to use in the boxes here. You’ll have to repeat this step for each separate Wi-Fi network you connect to if you want to use the DNS servers on different Wi-Fi networks.
Other devices may have their own built-in options for setting their own DNS server. Look under network connection settings on the device to see if an option to set custom DNS servers is available.