How to fix ERR_NAME_NOT_RESOLVED

ERR_NAME_NOT_RESOLVED means your browser tried to look up the domain in DNS and got nothing back — no IP address at all. This happens before any connection to a server is even attempted; the browser doesn't know where to send the request in the first place. It is a different, earlier failure than a connection being refused or timing out.

Because the failure happens before the server is even contacted, the server itself is very rarely the cause. The explanation is almost always in DNS, in the domain's registration, or in caching somewhere between DNS and your browser.

The causes, in the order worth checking

1. The domain has no DNS records pointing anywhere

A freshly registered domain, or one recently moved to new nameservers, has nothing configured until records are added. Check the DNS management section of your control panel for an A record (or, if you use a CDN, a CNAME) on the domain. If nothing is listed, that's the entire explanation — add the record and the error clears once it takes effect.

2. The domain has expired or been suspended

An expired domain typically stops resolving within a short window of the expiry date, and a domain suspended for a billing or compliance reason at the registrar level behaves identically from the outside — DNS simply stops answering for it. Check the domain's status and expiry date directly in your registrar or hosting account rather than assuming it must still be active because it was recently.

3. The domain uses nameservers that were never updated, or were changed incorrectly

If a domain was moved to point at a new host, but the nameservers at the registrar still list the old provider — or list a set that was mistyped during the change — DNS lookups can fail entirely rather than simply returning the wrong answer, particularly if the old nameservers no longer exist. Confirm at the registrar which nameservers are currently set, and that they match exactly what your current host expects.

4. The change is recent and hasn't finished propagating

A nameserver or DNS change is not instant everywhere at once — it becomes visible to different resolvers around the world as their cached copies expire. Within the first few hours of a change this is a normal, temporary state rather than a fault. See how long DNS propagation takes for what's normal and how to check progress properly rather than by repeatedly reloading your own browser.

5. A typo in the domain, or a local DNS/hosts file override

Worth ruling out precisely because it's easy to overlook: check the address bar carefully for a misspelling, and if you or anyone with access to the machine has previously edited the system's hosts file to point that domain somewhere for testing, an old entry left in place will cause exactly this kind of resolution failure on that one device only.

Ruling out your own machine

Because DNS is cached at several layers between the authoritative record and your browser, a fix on the domain doesn't always appear instantly on the machine you're testing from. Clear your local resolver cache — ipconfig /flushdns on Windows, or the equivalent for your operating system — and test again on a different network, such as a phone on mobile data, before concluding a fix hasn't worked.

Some ISPs and some routers run their own DNS resolver that caches more aggressively, and for longer, than the standard set out in the record's TTL. If a phone on mobile data resolves the domain correctly while a laptop on the home network still fails, that specific router or ISP resolver — rather than anything about the domain — is the thing still holding an old answer, and there is little to do about it beyond waiting it out or switching the device to a public DNS resolver temporarily.

Checking it systematically

1. Query DNS directly, not through the browser

   Run nslookup yourdomain.com or dig yourdomain.com. A clear failure here confirms the domain genuinely isn't resolving anywhere right now, independent of any caching on your own machine.

2. Confirm the domain's status and expiry date

   Check directly in the registrar or hosting account rather than relying on memory of when it was last renewed.

3. Confirm the nameservers match what your host expects

   A single mistyped nameserver, or an old one left in the list alongside a new one, is enough to break resolution entirely.

4. Test from a second, unrelated network

   Mobile data with Wi-Fi off is the fastest way to separate a genuine DNS problem from something cached specifically on your own network.

If DNS looks correct and it still fails

Confirm the exact nameservers and any A or CNAME records currently set on the domain, and how long ago they were changed. With those details, support can check what the domain is actually answering with from our end and tell you directly whether it's a configuration issue or simply still propagating.