Switching DNS Ended Intermittent Connection Errors

The Problem

The launcher showed "couldn't connect to Minecraft services" almost every time I opened it. Occasionally: maybe 1 in 10 attempts: it would connect and let me play. No pattern to when it worked. Other websites and games were fine.

The Clue

On a weekend trip I connected my laptop to a mobile hotspot. The launcher worked every single time for three days. Back home on my ISP connection, failures returned. That pointed to my home network, not the launcher itself.

The Fix

I changed DNS on my router from ISP defaults to Cloudflare (1.1.1.1 and 1.0.0.1). Also set the same on Windows: Settings → Network → Wi-Fi → DNS → Manual → 1.1.1.1. Ran ipconfig /flushdns in Command Prompt.

Result: Connection success rate went from ~10% to 100% over the next week. No launcher reinstall needed.

Why It Might Work

Some ISP DNS resolvers intermittently fail or slow-resolve Microsoft authentication endpoints. Public DNS bypasses that bottleneck.

Full guide: can't connect to services.