How to Enable DNS-Over-HTTPS in Chrome in Windows 10

Chrome can now encrypt your DNS quires with a new protocol. Follow these steps to enable DNS-over-HTTPS in Chrome on Windows 10.

Every time you try to visit a website, Chrome or any other web browser makes a DNS request so that it can resolve the actual IP address of the website you are trying to access. Generally, all the DNS quires via Chrome are in plain text. Which simply means that anyone one can see what websites you are visiting quite easily. This includes your ISPs (Internet Service Providers) too.

Recently, Chrome enabled a new feature called DoH (DNS-over-HTTPS). When enabled, DoH encrypts all the DNS quires and responses with HTTPS so that no one can see what websites you are visiting. Additionally, DoH also makes it possible to bypass DNS filters and blocklists.

So, without further ado, let me show you how to enable DNS-over-HTTPS in Chrome in Windows 10.

Though I say Windows 10, the below steps can be followed on Windows 7 and 8 too.

Enable DNS-over-HTTPS in Chrome

Though enabling DNS-over-HTTPS settings is nothing hard, it can be confusing and bizarre for new users. Just follow the steps as is and you should be good.

1. First, open Chrome by searching for it in the start menu. Once opened, you will see it on the taskbar. Right-click on it and select "Pin to taskbar" option. This is necessary to have access to the Chrome shortcut. If you already have it pinned or have a desktop shortcut, skip this step.

2. Now, right-click on the Chrome taskbar icon. From the options, right-click again on the "Google Chrome" and select the "Properties" option. Alternatively, you can also right-click on the Chrome desktop shortcut icon and select the same Properties option.

3. The above action will open the Google Chrome Properties window. Here, add the below code at the end of the "Target" field.

With the below code, you will be using Cloudflare DNS service as DoH. If you wish to use some other DNS service then feel free to modify the server address. Depending on the DNS service, the server address will be different.

--enable-features="dns-over-https<DoHTrial" --force-fieldtrials="DoHTrial/Group1" --force-fieldtrial-params="DoHTrial.Group1:server/https%3A%2F%2F1.1.1.1%2Fdns-query/method/POST

4. Click on the "Apply" and "Ok" buttons to save changes.

5. Finally, relaunch the Chrome browser if is opened.

Check If You Are Using DNS-Over-HTTPS

Once you are done enabling, you can easily check if you are using DoH or not. Cloudflare has a neat debug page that checks whether you are using DoH or not among other things.

To check if you are using DNS-over-HTTPS or not, simply go to this page and let it complete the analyzing process. It will take a couple of seconds to complete. Once done, you should see "Using DNS over HTTPS (DoH)" as "YES". If you see it, you are using DoH.

Otherwise, verify the above steps once again and make sure that you've added the given code properly.

Wrapping Up

That is all. It is that simple to add DNS-over-HTTPS to Chrome in Windows 10. If you are stuck or need some help, comment below and I will try to help as much as possible.

If you like this article, do check out how to limit Chrome from using gigabytes of cache in Windows 10.