Unable to change DNS servers in Windows 10 Home & Pro

finnfire · 19 Jan 2017

Good afternoon all,

I've been trying to change DNS servers for the best part of a day but Windows 10 (both Home & Pro) is steadfastly resisting my attempts.

I've set the IPv4 adapter settings for both Google and OpenDNS servers but when I run the DNS Leak Test (dnsleaktest.com) it always displays my ISP's DNS servers. I don't get this problem with either macOS or Linux.

I've run gpedit.msc (on Pro) to enable 'Turn off smart multi-homed name resolution', then re-booted, but the result is always the same - leak test shows ISP's DNS servers.

Ok, this isn't a major issue when I'm connect to my ISP, but it rather defeats the object when I use VPN.

Am I missing something? Hopefully someone can point me in the right direction :)

TIA,

Steve

EdTittel · 19 Jan 2017

Have you tried testing it on a VPN link? It may be some kind of ISP policy that's preventing reassignment when you go direct through their network and not through a VPN tunnel. Just checked through a tutorial and saw that you have to do this for both IPv4 and IPv6. Windows 10 uses IPv6 preferentially, when both IPv4 and IPv6 are available. Could it be that you do have access to IPv6, and have only set "Smart DNS" for IPv4? Please check and see. That would be a perfect explanation for why this is happening.
HTH,
--Ed--

finnfire · 19 Jan 2017

Eureka! The answer in the end is simple - change the DNS servers in my router. This I've done and Windows now behaves itself. It's a good solution in that it works for all devices - Win 10, macOS, Linux, iOS, etc - but it's still a workaround for Win 10.

But thanks for the suggestion Ed, because it got me thinking about IPv6 and that led me into the router to see what it is doing about IPv6, and then I spotted the option to configure DNS manually..... :)

EdTittel · 19 Jan 2017

You're very welcome finnfire. Glad you got it sorted! Best wishes for smooth sailing for a while, too!
--Ed--