Flushing DNS clears cached name-resolution answers on your Windows device. It can help when Windows keeps using an outdated answer. It does not change your public IP, remove browser history or reset the DNS servers used by everyone on the network.
Clear the local cache
Save the exact website error before changing anything. On a device you administer, open Command Prompt and run:
ipconfig /flushdns
Windows should report that the DNS resolver cache was successfully flushed. If access is denied, use the administrator option only if you are authorised to manage that computer. On a work device, ask IT instead.
Microsoft also documents the PowerShell command Clear-DnsClientCache. You do not need to run both commands for the same purpose.
Test the original symptom
Return to the same website and try the same action. Avoid changing the VPN, Wi-Fi network and browser simultaneously. If the page now loads, the cache may have been involved, but one successful retry does not establish the entire cause.
If nothing improves, stop flushing repeatedly. Check whether the problem affects one domain, several domains or all internet access. Our DNS lookup can show a public resolver’s answer, although that answer is not a measurement of your normal device resolver.
What may still be cached
Your browser, local router and upstream DNS resolver can keep their own answers. Clearing Windows’ cache does not force the authoritative owner of a domain to publish a different record.
If you recently changed your own domain’s records, use its nameserver configuration and TTLs to investigate. If you are visiting someone else’s website, follow DNS server not responding and report the domain and exact error. Do not run unrelated network-reset commands simply because they appeared beside a DNS command online.