¶ Determine your Chromecast version
There are 2 versions of Chromecast devices and they each have a different setup.
If you have a regular Chromecast without any interface (just the dongle you cast media to), it requires changes on your router as there is no way to configure the device's DNS directly. For this, use the Static Routing steps below.
If you have a Chromecast with Google TV, it will have Android functionality and you can use its interface to configure ControlD on it. Scroll down for those steps.
¶ Static Routing
The Chromecast itself doesn't allow you to change the DNS, it is hard-coded to use Google's DNS resolver.
This means that the only way to use ControlD's resolvers is by using Static IP Routing/Forwarding on your router.
Simply put, this will take all requests meant to go to Google's 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 resolvers and send them to the ControlD resolvers instead.
As router interfaces are all different, we will provide you with a general guideline for how to set up a static IP route.
¶ Step 1
Open the router interface by navigating to it in your browser. You can typically reach it via 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.0.1.
If these don't work, refer to the sticker on the bottom of your router or your router's manual for the access gateway.
¶ Step 2
Before creating a static route, you will want to set up the ControlD DNS resolver on your router. You can refer to our router guides here to see how this is done on most routers.
Your router's DNS settings should look something like this after you've configured the ControlD resolvers.
¶ Step 3
Next you will need to find the Static Route / Static IP Routing section in your router's settings. A quick Google search should point you to where this can be found on your router.
Once you've located those settings, configure the first of two routes:
Destination IP Address: 8.8.8.8
IP Subnet Mask : 255.255.255.255 (or /32 in some cases)
Gateway IP: This is your router's IP, whatever you used in Step 1 to access the router settings.
Metric: 1
Interface: LAN
¶ Step 4
Now repeat the process for Google's second DNS resolver.
Destination IP Address: 8.8.4.4
IP Subnet Mask : 255.255.255.255 (or /32 in some cases)
Gateway IP: This is your router's IP, whatever you used in Step 1 to access the router settings.
Metric: 1
Interface: LAN
Once you have both rules, it should look something like this:
¶ Step 5
Finally, press Apply or Save and the static routes will be saved. Restart the router and the Chromecast device at this point and the Roku should now be using ControlD.
Keep in mind that since you configured the ControlD resolver on your router, all the devices connected to this router will now use the ControlD DNS as well (unless there is a separate DNS configured on the device).
¶ Chromecast with Google TV
¶ Step 1
Navigate to the Account bubble in the top-right corner of the home screen.
¶ Step 2
Open the Settings.
¶ Step 3
Open the Network & Internet section.
¶ Step 4
Select the WIFI network your Chromecast is connected to.
¶ Step 5
Note down the IP Address you see in this menu as you will need it later.
¶ Step 6
Select the IP Settings option near the bottom.
¶ Step 7
Choose the Static option.
¶ Step 8
Now enter the IP Address from Step 5 and press →| on the keyboard.
¶ Step 9
Enter your network gateway. The network gateway is the Local IP of your router, for most people it will be 192.168.1.1 or in some cases 10.0.0.1
If you aren't sure what the gateway is, you can check using a phone/tablet or computer connected to the same router.
Follow the steps in this article to find your gateway on a Windows/Mac system or look at these screenshots for Android or iOS devices (it's called Router in iOS settings, not gateway).
¶ Step 10
The Network Prefix Length will depend on the network's Subnet Mask. Most people will have 255.255.255.0 as their Subnet Mask which is a Prefix Length of 24.
If you don't know the subnet mask, you can find it using the same techniques as in Step 9. Once again, refer to this article or the Android / iOS screenshot guides.
If your Subnet Mask is not 255.255.255.0 then refer to this chart to find what your Prefix Length is.
¶ Step 11
Finally you can input the ControlD DNS IP. If you're configuring our free DNS resolvers, you can use one of these:
- Unfiltered → 76.76.2.0
- Block Malware → 76.76.2.1
- Block Malware + Ads → 76.76.2.2
- Block Malware + Ads + Social → 76.76.2.3
If you are configuring a custom DNS resolver, you can find your custom DNS IP in the My Account section:
Enter the DNS IP you will use and press →|
¶ Step 12
The device will also ask for a secondary DNS as a backup. You can leave this blank and press →|. This will force the device to only use the DNS from the previous step.
¶ Step 13
Once you see “Saved Successfully” on the screen, you're all done! ControlD has been configured on the device.
Now just restart your Chromecast from the Settings to start using the new DNS resolver.
