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I have a PC whose name is "mypc". It's accessible on the local network.

https://mypc.local correctly displays its website when browsed from Mac, iOS, and itself.

However, using my Pixel 3 with Android 11, browsing to https://mypc.local says “This site can’t be reached”. ERR_NAME_NOT_RESOLVED.

Interestingly, if I remove the ".local" and try browsing just to https://mypc, the browser finds the host correctly. It says "Your connection is not private" and ERR_CERT_AUTHORITY_INVALID (which just means my self-signed certificate isn't configured to expect "mypc" because it expects "mypc.local").

I've tried Brave Private, DuckDuckGo, and Chrome.

How can I fix my Android devices to correctly use the .local hostname?

P.S. I've seen the following questions, but those answers don't apply to my case since my network router is correctly mapping mypc.local to the specific IP of that PC. Additionally, even Android is aware of how to resolve "mypc" to the correct IP, so I'm curious how to get it to treat "mypc.local" the same way.

P.P.S. I also just tried from an old Nexus 7 with Android 5.1.1. The results are basically the same as with Android 11. https://mypc.local/ does not work and says DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_NXDOMAIN. https://mypc finds the host correctly but says NET:ERR_CERT_AUTHORITY_INVALID.

Ryan
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  • Check the "secure DNS setting". If it is activated your local DNS server (e.g. in the router providing the .local addresses) will be ignored and instead a secure connection to a DNS server by e.g. Google is used. Of course this DNS server knows nothing about your local devices. – Robert Oct 29 '20 at 19:06
  • @Robert My router is the AT&T gateway Arris BGW210-700, which does not seem to have any DNS settings in the config or even mentioned in the PDF of its manual. Are you saying there is a "secure DNS setting" within Android 11? I searched but couldn't find it. Thanks for your help. – Ryan Oct 29 '20 at 19:12
  • Most routers have a built-in DNS proxy that performs the resolution of .local addresses. I just checked and it seems like the secure DNS setting is called Private DNS. – Robert Oct 29 '20 at 19:18
  • @Robert I'd changed Private DNS on my Android to one.one.one.one (https://1.1.1.1/). But even though I just switched it back to Automatic, I'm getting the same results as my question above. – Ryan Oct 29 '20 at 19:21
  • You need to disable private DNS (Off), otherwise your router DNS is not used and you can not resolve .local addresses. – Robert Oct 29 '20 at 19:23
  • @Robert I switched Private DNS to Off and then enabled Airplane Mode for a moment (since I think sometimes that's necessary), but I'm getting the same results as my question above. I appreciate your ideas! They seemed like reasonable steps to try. – Ryan Oct 29 '20 at 19:26
  • May help with Search Domain (.local in your case) issues: https://android.stackexchange.com/a/220129/218526 – Irfan Latif Oct 30 '20 at 20:32
  • @IrfanLatif I appreciate the link. I've studied your post multiple times (and others by you), but I'm confused about what I can do to solve my problem. Toggling to Airplane Mode and back off hasn't worked. Waiting 48+ hours hasn't worked (to let whatever cache expire). Restarting the phone hasn't worked. It's bizarre to me that iOS, Mac, and Windows all resolve mypc.local but Android 11 so far does not. Thanks for any thoughts. From your posts, you seem like you're exactly the type of person I was hoping would see my post! Thanks. – Ryan Oct 31 '20 at 14:37
  • Any thoughts, @IrfanLatif? Thanks for your help. – Ryan Nov 02 '20 at 23:18
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    @Ryan I can't be very specific in your situation. Your question is more about troubleshooting than a precise answer. Make sure your DNS traffic isn't encrypted. Secondly force it to go to your router by using iptables (if rooted) or VPN. Then use dig on Termux to see what response your DNS query gets back. This should certainly lead you to some conclusion. You can follow any DNS troubleshooting guide. Android-specfic things are explained in my previous answers on the subject. – Irfan Latif Nov 03 '20 at 10:30
  • @IrfanLatif Ok, thanks for the hints. – Ryan Nov 03 '20 at 13:12
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    I think https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/140786115 (https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=405925) might be the problem. – Ryan Nov 11 '20 at 18:52
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    @Ryan - Yes. That's the one. – Sonny Nov 12 '20 at 00:08
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    Looks like Android has supported .local mDNS since December 2021 through Google Play System November 2021 update. Ref: Esper.io, Android Police – Andrew T. Feb 09 '23 at 08:43
  • @AndrewT. Thanks for the update! – Ryan Feb 09 '23 at 19:49

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