Local DNS server / Windows

How to run a local DNS server on Windows

A local DNS server lets you control how names resolve on your machine or private network. It is useful for development domains, lab environments, internal tools, and repeatable testing.

When this is useful

Use a local DNS server when a Windows machine needs to resolve private names in a predictable way. This is common when you are building web applications with several local services, testing APIs that expect real hostnames, simulating an internal network, or replacing many hosts-file entries with a real DNS setup.

It is also useful when you need DNS features that the hosts file cannot represent, such as CNAME aliases, MX records, SRV service discovery, TXT values, wildcard names, reverse DNS, TCP DNS, forwarding, and cache behavior.

When a local DNS server helps

Editing the Windows hosts file works for a few simple A records, but it does not cover real DNS behavior such as MX, SRV, CNAME chains, TXT records, wildcard names, TCP DNS, or forwarding. A local DNS server gives you a closer production-like environment without depending on public DNS.

  • Resolve names such as api.project.local or app.internal.test.
  • Use wildcard records for dynamic subdomains.
  • Test mail, service discovery, or private network records.
  • Forward unknown domains to upstream DNS servers.

Basic setup

  1. Download DNS Server Sentinel from the download section.
  2. Open the Admin app.
  3. Create a zone, for example project.local.
  4. Add records such as @ A 127.0.0.10 and api A 127.0.0.11.
  5. Start Service mode or launch Portable mode.
Resolve-DnsName api.project.local -Server 127.0.0.1
nslookup api.project.local 127.0.0.1

Service or Portable

Use the Service edition when the DNS server should run in the background. Use the Portable edition when the DNS server belongs to a project folder, a demo, or a developer workstation workflow.

Free development use. Free mode is suitable for development and local testing. It answers DNS queries for 48 hours from each server start, then the server must be restarted.

Next steps

Read the documentation to configure zones, record types, forwarding, protections, logs, and licensing.