DNS-over-HTTPS is a relatively new web protocol, created about two years ago. It works in the same way as the original DNS. That is, its main purpose is to take a domain namethat a user types into a browser and send a query to a DNS server to find out the numeric IP address of the Web server that hosts that site.
The difference between the original DNS and DNS-over-HTTPS is that the first protocol makes the request in plain text, while the second as encrypted HTTPS. With DoH it is not possible for a third party to see these requests, so that they can understand what the user is looking for. Mozilla Firefox has already supported DoH a few years ago and it is very easy to activate.
Enabling DNS-over-HTTPS in Google is not that easy. Sure, it works fine in Chrome, but there is no specific user interface for enabling or configuring it. Now you can enable DoH protocol support in Google Chrome. It can be a complicated process, but the steps below will prove to be extremely useful.
Initially, to enable DoH in Google Chrome, you need to use a command-line argument, i.e. a set of additional instructions.
- Find the Chrome shortcut. This may be on your taskbar, desktop, start menu, or somewhere else in your file system.
- Right-click on the shortcut and select “Properties”.
- In the Target field, add the following text to the end of the shortcut path and click Save.
–enable-features = “dns-over-https
Essentially, this text will make Chrome use the Cloudflare DoH server, but users can choose any server they want from the list.
- Restart Chrome if it's already running, otherwise just start Chrome from scratch.
- To check if DoH support is working in Chrome, go to https://1.1.1.1/help.
Next to “Use DNS over HTTPS (DoH)”, it should say “Yes”.
