How do I check if my computer is using the Google Public DNS

I changed my router to use Google's public DNS. Now how do I ensure that my router is using Google Public DNS(8.8.8.8) to connect. How do I check what DNS server is being used to connect to the Internet for any service. I am using Windows 7

Somesh Mukherjee

Posted 2013-08-05T17:02:58.093

Reputation: 305

This has been asked multiple times on superuser and is very easy to find information via web search.

http://superuser.com/questions/486921/how-to-find-out-my-dns-server-address

– Moses – 2013-08-05T21:24:42.613

2Yes but these show my router address each time. I'm not seeing the actual DNS server addres 8.8.8.8 anytime I just keeo seeing 192.168.1.1 I am not sure if the router is using the new nameservers OpenDNS I remember used to have this feature where they could tell if you opened a webpage – Somesh Mukherjee – 2013-08-06T04:05:21.740

If your computer is showing your router's address for the DNS, then that's exactly what you want. The router is using Google's DNS, and your PC is referring to the router for which servers to use. – Moses – 2013-08-07T03:34:50.613

i just need a way to be sure. I switched because DNS lookups on a lot of sites were failing. Some DNS lookups still fail, although the number has gone down. just need to be sure – Somesh Mukherjee – 2013-08-07T03:36:11.270

2If you see your router address as the DNS for your computer, then you need to log into your router's control panel and look at what DNS entries it is using. – Darth Android – 2013-08-07T20:39:26.683

Answers

You can do the following steps:

Start up the command prompt (Win + R, enter cmd and press Enter).
At the prompt, enter:
```
nslookup
```

The program should display the name and IP address of the default DNS server being used.

mdpc

Posted 2013-08-05T17:02:58.093

Reputation: 4 176

1I am using opendns IP addresses in my router, and nslookup on my Windows computer shows this: DNS request timed out. timeout was 2 seconds. Default Server: UnKnown Address: fe80::1 – Zeeshan – 2015-01-13T14:16:09.257

@Zeeshan re-run a couple of times or as admin. – Det – 2017-08-25T00:24:21.663

Be very careful of your ISP's transparent proxying. See https://www.dnsleaktest.com/what-is-transparent-dns-proxy.html – Pacerier – 2017-08-31T04:57:21.287

I know this is an old question, but I thought I can help with another answer.

I don't completely agree with the answer above. nslookup will show you what DNS you are "supposed" to be using but not necessarily the real DNS you are using. You can configure your computer to use a DNS but your router can hijack the DNS call. In that same note, you can set your router to use a DNS and your service provider can hijack the DNS calls to use their DNS server. (I use a linksys router with tomato firmware in it and with iptables rules I am hijacking all DNS calls to use OpenDNS as the DNS service provider.) If you really want to know what DNS server you are using, I recommend you to google "DNS leak test" and test your DNS. Here is one test you can run: https://www.dnsleaktest.com/

Chuck

Posted 2013-08-05T17:02:58.093

Reputation: 41

I'd never heard of dnsleaktest.com before but that is such a great tool. +1 – pseudosavant – 2019-09-09T01:06:07.170