Is nslookup available on both Windows and Mac?

Yes. nslookup ships built-in on Windows and is available on macOS and most Linux distributions (sometimes requiring a small package install, like dnsutils on Debian/Ubuntu).

What's the difference between nslookup and dig?

Both query DNS, but dig (available on macOS/Linux) gives more detailed, raw output better suited to troubleshooting, while nslookup has simpler, more readable output and is available by default on Windows. For quick checks, either works fine.

Why does nslookup sometimes return a different result than my browser?

nslookup by default queries your system's configured DNS resolver, which may differ from what other applications use, and results can also differ due to DNS caching at various layers. Specifying a public resolver directly (e.g. nslookup example.com 8.8.8.8) removes that variable.

nslookup Command Guide: Query DNS from Your Terminal

By MXToolbox Team · September 2, 2026

nslookup is a command-line tool for querying DNS records directly, without needing a browser-based tool. It’s built into Windows, macOS, and most Linux systems, which makes it the fastest way to check DNS when you already have a terminal open.

Basic syntax

nslookup <domain>

Example:

nslookup example.com

This returns the domain’s A (and often AAAA) record — the IP address(es) it resolves to.

Querying a specific record type

Use the -type= flag to query something other than the default A record:

nslookup -type=MX example.com
nslookup -type=TXT example.com
nslookup -type=NS example.com
nslookup -type=CNAME www.example.com

MX example output:

example.com   MX preference = 10, mail exchanger = mail1.example.com
example.com   MX preference = 20, mail exchanger = mail2.example.com

The “preference” value is the same as MX priority — lower numbers are tried first. See the MX record guide for a full explanation of how that ordering works.

Querying against a specific DNS server

By default, nslookup uses your system’s configured DNS resolver. You can override that by specifying a server directly as a second argument:

nslookup example.com 8.8.8.8

This is useful for confirming whether a DNS change has propagated to a specific public resolver, independent of what your local machine or ISP has cached.

Interactive mode

Running nslookup with no arguments drops you into an interactive prompt where you can run multiple queries and change settings without retyping the command each time:

nslookup
> set type=MX
> example.com
> set type=TXT
> example.com
> exit

This is handy when you’re checking several record types for the same domain back to back.

Common output fields explained

Server / Address — the DNS resolver that answered the query (not the domain you’re looking up)
Non-authoritative answer — means the response came from a caching resolver, not the domain’s own authoritative nameserver; this is normal for most queries
Name — the domain queried
Address — the resolved IP (for A/AAAA queries)

nslookup vs. dig vs. browser tools

Tool	Platform	Best for
`nslookup`	Windows, macOS, Linux	Quick checks, built-in everywhere
`dig`	macOS, Linux (not native on Windows)	Detailed/raw DNS troubleshooting
Browser DNS lookup tool	Any device	No terminal needed, shareable results

If you’d rather not open a terminal, the free DNS Lookup tool covers the same record types (A, AAAA, MX, TXT, CNAME, NS) from your browser.

Troubleshooting with nslookup

If nslookup itself fails to return anything — timing out or showing “DNS server not responding” — that’s a resolver-level issue, not a problem with the domain you’re querying. See how to fix “DNS server not responding” for the fix.