Setting up WiFi network adapter to use a local DNS server on Windows 11 Pro

Question

Hi, I'm trying to configure my WiFi adapter to use a locally running DNS server bound on 127.0.0.1:53. The DNS server I have setup is https://github.com/Revertron/Alfis. Which is a DNS server which resolves not just regular TLDs but some custom TLDs like .ygg etc. I have changed the properties of my adapter, gone to IPv4 settings, selected manual DNS settings and added the IP address 127.0.0.1 as the first entry, so it is the primary DNS. The 2nd entry is my router DNS and the 3rd DNS server is 8.8.8.8. Now when I run the command nslookup specifying which DNS server to use, I'm able to resolve the domain. So when I do > nslookup special.ygg 127.0.0.1 I get back the IPv6 address of the domain special.ygg. But if I just do a plain > nslookup special.ygg I get this error:

Server:  UnKnown
Address:  fe80::1

*** UnKnown can't find special.ygg: Non-existent domain

I'm not sure where this fe80::1 is configured I looked everywhere for it, but wasn't able to find it. I believe it is for this reason that I am not able to browse any of these custom TLDs, the browsers just hang resolving the domain.

Could someone please help me configure this local DNS server correctly?

Thanks,

Answer 1

Hello,

You can try the following steps to configure and troubleshoot:

Check if there are other network configurations (such as VPNS, proxy servers, etc.) that might interfere with DNS resolution.

Ensure that no system services, such as DNS client services for Windows, are disabled or incorrectly configured, which could affect DNS resolution.

Ensure that firewalls and security software are not blocking access to 127.0.0.1:53.

Use the ipconfig /flushdns command to clear the DNS cache, and then try resolving the custom TLD again.

You can also consult Alfis' official documentation and community support forums to see if other users have encountered and resolved similar issues.