MacOS users may occasionally need to flush DNS cache on their Macs in order to access certain websites, domains, or for troubleshooting purposes. Flushing DNS cache is particularly common with web developers and network admins, but it’s used with some regularity by other advanced users too. This guide will walk through how to flush DNS cache in MacOS Big Sur and MacOS Catalina.
If you’re unable to access a website that you visited recently, then of course the first thing you’d check is whether you have a working internet connection. But if you’re only facing connectivity issues on that particular website, then it could be a DNS error, and this is an example when clearing out DNS cache can be helpful.
Your Mac stores the IP addresses of web servers that contain pages that you’ve recently visited. However, if this IP address changes prior to the entry in your DNS cache updates, you won’t be able to access the site without resetting your DNS cache. Flushing the DNS cache on your Mac removes all the invalid entries and forces the system to recollect those addresses the next time you visit the website.
How to Flush DNS Cache in macOS Catalina & Big Sur
Before you go ahead with the following procedure, make sure that your Mac is running macOS Catalina or later, as clearing DNS cache on older versions of macOS varies slightly. Now, without further ado, let’s take a look at the necessary steps.
- We’ll be using Terminal to flush the DNS cache on your machine. You can open Terminal using Spotlight search. Click on the “magnifying glass” icon located at the top-right corner of your desktop to access Spotlight search. Alternatively, you can open Spotlight by pressing Command + Space bar.
- Next, type “Terminal” in the search field and open the app from the search results.
- Now, type the following the following command in terminal.
sudo dscacheutil -flushcache; sudo killall -HUP mDNSResponder - Hit the Return key and you’ll now be prompted to enter the macOS user password. Type in your password and press Return again.
Close the Terminal window when finished.
That’s pretty much all there is to it. You’ve successfully cleared and reset the DNS cache on your macOS machine.
It’s worth noting that you won’t get a “successful” message after you’ve typed in the command. Just know that it’s done and you can confirm it by opening the website you weren’t able to access before.
It’s good to clear DNS cache every now and then, as occasionally, they could get corrupted due to technical glitches. Similarly, your Wi-Fi router has a DNS cache as well. This is why most people recommend rebooting the router as a troubleshooting step, as it flushes the DNS cache as well.
If your Mac is running an older version of macOS, you might want to learn how to reset DNS cache in macOS High Sierra, or flushing the DNS cache in macOS Sierra and so on. The procedure is similar and involves the Terminal, except for the fact that you’d be typing in a slightly different command.
We hope you were able to correct whatever network issues you were experiencing, or you’re able to access all the websites again after flushing the DNS cache on your Mac. And if you’re having general internet connectivity problems, you may want to try troubleshooting steps to resolve Wi-Fi connectivity issues on your Mac as well.
If you know of another approach to flushing DNS cache on the latest macOS releases, or you have any particular insight, opinions, or advice, share in the comments!
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