Linux Can Ping An IP Address But Can't Resolve Domain NameThis fix for Linux helps when you can ping IP but can't resolve domain names in web browsers or cannot to connect to servers for updates.
Domain names are a human-friendly version of IP addresses. The resolving process is a lookup between a name and an IP. For example, the IP address 172.217.17.68 resolves to www.google.com, and the domain name is far easier to remember than that long number.
On some Linux distributions, domain name resolving does not work out of the box. Typically this is because a package isn't installed or a setup item wasn't completed properly. You may encounter linux can errors such as:
Err:1 http:/gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial/main amd64 postfix amd64 3.1.0-3
Temporary failure resolving 'gb.archive.ubuntu.com' You may also find that you can ping IP addresses but can't resolve domain names, so ping 172.217.17.68 will work but ping www.google.com will not.
The fix is quite easy. All you need to do is edit a file and add two lines which tell the networking system where to go to look up domain names.
sudo pico /etc/resolv.conf
If this file is empty then this is your problem. Simply add the following lines to the file, save and try to access the domain name again.
nameserver 8.8.8.8
nameserver 8.8.4.4 Now you should be in business.
