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How to fix the issue if you see the message about the host is unknown when attempting to ping a domain name.

I can ping one of Google’s servers:

ping 8.8.8.8

PING 8.8.8.8 (8.8.8.8) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_req=1 ttl=51 time=8.09 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_req=2 ttl=51 time=8.34 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_req=3 ttl=51 time=12.4 ms

But I can’t resolve any domain names:

$ ping google.com

ping: unknown host google.com

This means that resolving of the domain names to IP via DNS (Domain Name System) is not working.

To fix this, simply type the following command:

echo "nameserver 8.8.8.8" | sudo tee /etc/resolv.conf

Or you can manually edit the resolv.conf file. For this you need to open the resolv.conf file:

sudo nano /etc/resolv.conf

And add this line instead of what ever you have:

nameserver 8.8.8.8

Note: 8.8.8.8 - is a Google DNS servers.

If you are having trouble fixing this problem with the instructions above, but are being able to solve this problem with any another method please describe it in the comment section below. Thanks!

If this article has helped you solve the problem then please leave a comment :smiley:

Thanks for reading!