Can't change my ISP's DNS address to the Public Google DNS address

[adamamerica]

I have read - perhaps in some comments on this site - that one can override one's ISP's DNS address, no matter what. I can't find that advice/comment/ any more.
I am using a PUBLIC Wi-Fi in a coffee house. My laptop runs Windows 10.


Thanx for reading.

 

[captaincharisma]

your trying to change network settings on a network connection that is not yours. what did you expect?

 

[USAFRet]

I have read - perhaps in some comments on this site - that one can override one's ISP's DNS address, no matter what. I can't find that advice/comment/ any more.
I am using a PUBLIC Wi-Fi in a coffee house. My laptop runs Windows 10.
Thanx for reading.

It's not your ISP. It is the coffee houses.

 

[adamamerica]

Yes, you're right. I need it for the following simple reason.
My VPN is working via an app, but is NOT working via an extension in Firefox browser.
So, the tech support suggested to change the DNS address to Google's 8.8.8.8 but I can't change it in that particular coffee house.
Maybe there is another remedy to make my VPN working via it's extension without changing the ISP's DNS address?

 

[USAFRet]

Yes, you're right. I need it for the following simple reason.
My VPV is working as an app, but is NOT working via an extension in Firefox browser.
so, the tech support suggested to change the DNS address to Google's 8.8.8.8 and I can't change it in that particular coffee house.
Maybe there another remedy to make my VPN working via it's extension without changing the ISP's DNS address?

Fixing that is very specific to your VPN, where it connects to, and what rules the coffee house has on their firewall.
No one out here knows those details.

I know that my VPN connection from home to work would not pass through my untangle firewall.
Unless I changed the specific restrictions in the firewall, or simply went around it for that one Cat5e, and went straight to the router.

Neither of which are an option in your coffee house case.

 

[adamamerica]

Thank You very much. So, officially it is not doable.

But, but.. as I mentioned above, someone on the Internet suggested using something which I did not understand
which would allow changing the ISP's address anyway.
But as you mentioned, it all DEPENDS ON the particular ISP's settings, restrictions (firewalls, etc) etc.

Thank You very much for all your responses.

Adam

 

[captaincharisma]

Thank You very much. So, officially it is not doable.

But, but.. as I mentioned above, someone on the Internet suggested using something which I did not understand
which would allow changing the ISP's address anyway.
But as you mentioned, it all DEPENDS ON the particular ISP's settings, restrictions (firewalls, etc) etc.

Thank You very much for all your responses.

Adam

changing something like that is not always possible. every business and home internet connection is different

 

[adamamerica]

Thank You very much. So, officially it is not doable.

But, but.. as I mentioned above, someone on the Internet suggested using something which I did not understand
which would allow changing the ISP's address anyway.
But as you mentioned, it all DEPENDS ON the particular ISP's settings, restrictions (firewalls, etc) etc.

Thank You very much for all your responses.

Adam

changing something like that is not always possible. every business and home internet connection is different

Yes, thank you very much. It all depends on many factors and and ... is not quite legal.

 

[bill001g]

Are you saying you hard code something like 8.8.8.8 for the dns server in the network settings and the coffee shop is somehow over riding this and using a different DNS other than google in this case.

If you do a NSLOOKUP www.tomshardware.com 8.8.8.8 Does it say the dns SERVER is google in the display or does it say something else.

In most cases it does not matter a lot which dns server you use since you should get the same ip for the web site.....although it can be more complex with things like akamai involved.

If you do not get the ip resolved to the name as you expect you can always hard code whatever you like in the HOSTS file. This is like a private DNS server that is checked first before asking a actual dns server.

 

[adamamerica]

Are you saying you hard code something like 8.8.8.8 for the dns server in the network settings and the coffee shop is somehow over riding this and using a different DNS other than google in this case.

If you do a NSLOOKUP www.tomshardware.com 8.8.8.8 Does it say the dns SERVER is google in the display or does it say something else.

In most cases it does not matter a lot which dns server you use since you should get the same ip for the web site.....although it can be more complex with things like akamai involved.

If you do not get the ip resolved to the name as you expect you can always hard code whatever you like in the HOSTS file. This is like a private DNS server that is checked first before asking a actual dns server.

Hi,

(Below I have not used any proxy or VPN software.)

Yes, I have hard coded the 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 in the network settings:

x Use the following DNS server address:
Preferred DNS server: 8.8.8.8
Alterrnate DNS server: 8.8.4.4

Then I have checked the following:
x Validate settings upon exit


Then I have hit 'Close'
and after about 15 secs the following window has popped up:

Windows Network Diagnostics
Troubleshooting has completed
Troubleshooting was unable to automatically fix all the issues found.
You can find more details below.
Problem found The DNS server isn't responding Detected


So, after hitting Close I was trying to access yahoo.com or google.com
using Google Chrome and Firefox browsers respectively.

Using Google Chrome

This site can’t be reached
google.com’s server IP address could not be found.
Try:
Checking the connection
Checking the proxy, firewall, and DNS configuration
Running Windows Network Diagnostics
ERR_NAME_NOT_RESOLVED


Using Firefox:


Hmm. We’re having trouble finding that site.
We can’t connect to the server at yahoo.com.
If that address is correct, here are three other things you can try:
Try again later.
Check your network connection.
If you are connected but behind a firewall, check that Firefox has permission to access the Web.


This shows that switching to public Google (and perhaps any other) servers is not allowed at that coffee house.

Adam

 

[bill001g]

They may have a firewall rule that blocks port 53. If you issue is just to get your VPN running you should be able to use ip addresses directly otherwise you can put the handful of URLs you need in the HOSTS file. It tends to be painful to put too many things in the hosts file.

Not sure why they would do this. Maybe they are trying to run content filters but everyone knows about vpn and you should always run vpn on any public hotspot even if there were no content filters.

I would try to ensure anything you run on that connection is HTTPS and do not ignore any warnings about invalid certificated etc.

 

[adamamerica]

They may have a firewall rule that blocks port 53. If you issue is just to get your VPN running you should be able to use ip addresses directly otherwise you can put the handful of URLs you need in the HOSTS file. It tends to be painful to put too many things in the hosts file.

Not sure why they would do this. Maybe they are trying to run content filters but everyone knows about vpn and you should always run vpn on any public hotspot even if there were no content filters.

I would try to ensure anything you run on that connection is HTTPS and do not ignore any warnings about invalid certificated etc.

Thank You.

Let me stress that I can run my VPN via its app, but NOT via its Firefox extension on that particular Wi-Fi.
The VPN's tech support told me to switch to the 8.8.8.8 DNS server to use their Firefox (or Chrome) EXTENSIONs.
And actually my VPN with a Firefox extension has worked on another public Wi-Fi.

So, perhaps I should change some proxy settings in Firefox and Chrome just to be able to use my VPN with those extensions, respectively, on that particular Wi-Fi.



Adam

 

[bill001g]

I would suspect when you use firefox extensions it is not a actual vpn but some form of proxy. If you really want to find out run wire shark and watch the traffic, you will likely see DNS requests for something related to your VPN.

I never trusted the browsers to run ALL traffic through the vpn so I always use clients. Lately I only use router based vpn after seeing bugs that allowed traffic to bypass the vpn client.