When I'm dealing with DNS on Windows, I prefer to use the command-line DNS tools from ISC BIND 9 tools, like dig and a modern nslookup, compared to the decrepit BSD circa 1991 version included with Windows. I've created this page so I can easily add those tools to Windows computers I use, and so you can too. If I'm feeling GUI, dnschecker.org is handy too.
Unfortunately, ISC decided to drop Windows as a supported platform for BIND in 2022 after many years of maintaining it as a great example of cross-platform C code, citing lagging support for modern C standards in Microsoft's compiler (since remedied). There might have been a little looking down the nose at Windows among the Unix elite going on as well, it's been known to happen. And at any rate, by that time it was easy enough for their paying customers to run BIND in a FreeBSD or Linux VM under Windows' Hyper-V.
The last version of BIND for Windows was 9.16, and the latest patch release as of 2026 is 9.16.50 from 2024. With a little perserverance, you can install its tools on any modern Windows version.
1. Install the Microsoft C++ runtime
You should install the latest Microsoft C++ runtime. You might be able to skip this step, but it's good security hygiene. BIND setup will try to install an outdated version which will fail. Fortunately, it only fails after it has already installed the BIND tools.
Click the button below to download the file directly from Microsoft:
Download Microsoft C++ Runtime (.exe)Run the installer and close it
2. Install BIND 9 tools
Download the software:
Download BIND 9.16.50 for Windows x64 (.zip)
Extract all the files into a real directory. Installing directly from a Windows Explorer ZIP folder might fail.
Run BINDInstall.exe. This will work even on Arm processors thanks to CPU emulation in Windows. You may get a scary red popup about dangerous software, tell Windows or your other security software you know it's unsigned and trust ISC and its download mirror at RIPE and you accept the risk, and check the box for Tools only in the installer dialog box to get dig and the other tools without trying to set up a DNS server. You need a better workaround to actually set up a BIND server that I know how to provide.
After it very quickly copies the files into C:\Program Files\ISC BIND 9, the Microsoft Visual C++ 2017 Redistributable installer will come up. Go ahead and let it run, but beware it will fail. Click through the errors and you're almost done.
3. Configure the PATH environment variable
You will probably want to add C:\Program Files\ISC BIND 9\bin or similar to your PATH. The installer probably would have done that automatically if it didn't trip over the outdated runtime. Open Windows' Settings and search for "envi" and choose to edit the system environment variables. Type Alt-N or click on the Environment Variables button. When adding C:\Program Files\ISC BIND 9\bin, use a semicolon to separate it from other directories. If you want to use the newer nslookup rather than the Windows version, make sure you put the BIND bin directory before Windows' system32 directory, which means modifying the system-wide PATH, not the per-user one.
4. Verify the installation
After closing the Environment Variables and System Properties dialog boxes, open a new command prompt to pick up the changed PATH and try:
C:\Users\davehart>dig -v
DiG 9.16.35
C:\Users\davehart>
You might wonder why installing BIND 9.16.50 tools gets you dig 9.16.35. I can only speculate, but that would be impolite.