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 visit a website, Chrome or any other web browser makes a DNS request to resolve the actual IP address of the website. 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 ISP (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 blacklists. So, without further ado, let me show you how to enable DNS over HTTPS in Chrome.
Enable DNS-over-HTTPS in Chrome
Chrome introduce a new flag to enable DNS over HTTP in Chrome browser. All you have to do is enable the flags.
- To do that, type “chrome://flags” in the address bar and press Enter.
- In the search field, type “dns“. You will see the “Secure DNS Lookup” flag.
- Select “Enabled” from the drop-down menu next to it.
Restart the browser and you are done. To verify if the DNS over HTTPS is working, follow the steps below.
Check If You Are Using DNS Over HTTPS
Once you are done enabling DNS over HTTPS in Chrome, you can easily check if it is working or not. Cloudflare has a neat debug page that checks whether you are using DoH or not among other things.
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. If the above method did not work for you, follow the old steps shown below. It will force Cloudflare as the DNS over HTTPS provider.
(Old Alternative Method)
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 and select the “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.
--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.
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.
