Windows 11 - DNS issue

Yann Dublanche 111 Reputation points
2021-10-24T20:57:03.95+00:00

Hello

I am currently testing the compatibility of our organization with Windows 11 and I am facing a strange behavior. The DNS service is not working well with Windows 11.

On Windows 10 there is no issue and all the IP addresses are resolved correctly from our DNS, but on Windows 11, the DNS results are strange:

  • If the request belongs to our main domain, nslookup provides the correct internal IP address
  • If the request belongs to an internal domain only, nslookup provides the correct internal IP address
  • If the request belongs to any other domain, nslookup provides the public IP address instead of the internal IP address

This is only happening from the internal network. If I connect by VPN, using the same DNS servers, then the result is correct in every case.

Has anybody experienced the same issue? Is this a problem of the Windows 11 desktop, the DNS server...?

Thanks in advance

Best regards

Yann

Windows DHCP
Windows DHCP
Windows: A family of Microsoft operating systems that run across personal computers, tablets, laptops, phones, internet of things devices, self-contained mixed reality headsets, large collaboration screens, and other devices.DHCP: Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP). A communications protocol that lets network administrators manage centrally and automate the assignment of Internet Protocol (IP) addresses in an organization's network.
1,021 questions
Windows 11
Windows 11
A Microsoft operating system designed for productivity, creativity, and ease of use.
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Accepted answer
  1. Yann Dublanche 111 Reputation points
    2021-10-28T16:17:06.307+00:00

    Dear all

    I have found a solution that solve my issue but generate a bigger concern.
    I have just tried to configure manually the network connection of the laptop, using exactly the same IP address, mask, gateway and dns server that I was getting before from the DHCP server. And it works! Like this the DNS is correctly providing the internal IP address instead of the external one.

    If I then configure back the network through DHCP, it fails again.

    It looks like if the DHCP server is giving more information than just the IP configuration.

    Has anybody experienced this kind of issue?

    Thanks in advance

    Best regards

    Yann

    1 person found this answer helpful.

11 additional answers

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  1. Kevin Gelking 21 Reputation points
    2022-10-11T11:53:59.697+00:00

    The accepted answer is no solution for me (on Windows 11 Pro, 21H2 22000.978)
    My network adapter is set up to automatically discover the DNS server and my router at home is set up to supply a self-hosted local-network DNS server (192.168.178.21).

    When I'm at home, this DNS server is correctly discovered without manually configuring it on every device.
    However, if I join any other network (e.g. a public train network or our office network), the local-net DNS server at home is, obviously, not available; yet windows fails to attempt to discover a new one.

    Even if I do ipconfig /flushdns /registerdns or ipconfig /release /renew this issue persists.
    The only fix is to manually configure a publicly accessible DNS server (e.g. 1.1.1.1) every time I join another network and set it back to auto-discover when I come back home.

    Manually configuring this every time is NOT a good solution. Windows should discover a functioning DNS server when set to auto-discover.

    249348-explorer-xl78ttv8ec.png

    4 people found this answer helpful.
  2. Dave Patrick 426K Reputation points MVP
    2021-10-24T21:18:24.337+00:00

    If the request belongs to any other domain, nslookup provides the public IP address instead of the internal IP address

    Do you happen to have a public web site with the same name as internal domain? If so a split brain deployment may be needed.
    https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/networking/dns/deploy/split-brain-dns-deployment

    --please don't forget to upvote and Accept as answer if the reply is helpful--

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  3. Yann Dublanche 111 Reputation points
    2021-10-25T07:28:58.943+00:00

    Hello Patrick

    Thanks a lot for your answer. I will review it. But the strange thing is that we are having the correct behavior on Windows 10 client but it is failing on windows 11 client.

    Best regards

    Yann

  4. Dave Patrick 426K Reputation points MVP
    2021-10-25T14:05:41.237+00:00

    As a work-around you could try adding an A record named "www" and point it to the public domain address.

    --please don't forget to upvote and Accept as answer if the reply is helpful--