Which DNS Server is queried

Question

Helli,
does anyone know a simple way, without the need of using wireshark or such, how to tell under Windows 10 OS which DNS server is queried?
My typical scenario, I use my wireless for internet, and also have connected an SSL OpenVPN adapter for corporate road-warrior VPN. In order the VPN to work properly I have to rely on the fact that my PC asks my company internal DNS server (split DNS) for name resolution. In order to do this, the VPN connection needs to be used. But sometimes I get wrong (public) DNS results. I am aware of network metric topic, but this does not always solve my issues. I just cannot tell what is the procedure of the OS when it comes to which DNS server to ask if there are more then one options.

Thread source link: https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/windows/en-US/aaa6a79f-ba0c-4abe-a996-8c6bce297679/which-dns-server-is-queried?forum=win10itpronetworking

Answer 1

Hi ,

Welcome to our new Microsoft Q&A Platform.

1. You can run command nslookup -d2 domain name (for example: nslookup www.google.com) to check the process of resolution in detail including DNS client queries which DNS server.
2. The DNS client queries the DNS servers in the following order:

*The DNS client sends the name query to the first DNS server on the preferred adapter's list of DNS servers and waits one second for a response

*If the DNS client does not receive a response from the first DNS server within one second, it sends the name query to the first DNS servers on all adapters that are still under consideration and waits two seconds for a response.

*If the DNS client does not receive a response from any DNS server within two seconds, the DNS client sends the query to all DNS servers on all adapters that are still under consideration and waits another two seconds for a response.

*If the DNS client still does not receive a response from any DNS server, it sends the name query to all servers on all adapters that are still under consideration and waits four seconds for a response.

*If the DNS client still does not receive a response from any DNS server, it sends the name query to all servers on all adapters that are still under consideration and waits eight seconds for a response.

*If the DNS client receives a positive response, it stops querying for the name, adds the response to the cache and returns the response to the client.

Best Regards,

Candy