#5579·netbird

Custom Zone records are not removed when the Netbird client disconnects

Author: sbeaudry-qmsCreated Mar 11, 2026Updated Sep 16, 2026
Labelstriage-needed

Custom Zones break after disconnection

Custom zones work wonderfully when connected, but when the netbird client (at least in 0.66.3 on Windows 11) disconnects, the zone no longer reverts to the pre-connected state, and name resolution for the zone is broken. I believe that whichever mechanism is being used on the the local adapter to intercept the requests, and redirect them to the netbird server DNS is not being properly cleaned up when disconnecting.

I use custom zone records to specify the netbird IP addresses (100.110,x,x) of known resources on my network that are running the netbird client, to cause netbird clients to communicate with those servers via the netbird IP range when connected. (I believe this is the intended purpose of the Custom Zones).

To Reproduce

Steps to reproduce the behavior:

  1. Select a host/zone/DNS domain that already exists on your network/in the world without netbird (myhost.contoso.local).
  2. from a client, before connecting to netbird, ping the host by name.. name resolution happens immediately via normal DNS, returning a public/private IP address (192.168.1.x)
  3. In the netbird console, Create a Zone that matches a DNS domain that already exists outside of netbird (contoso.local)
  4. In the netbird console, Create a host record in that zone (myhost.contoso.local) and specify a netbird ranged IP address (100.110.x.x)
  5. Connect a netbird client that is scoped to the distribution group the zone applies to.
  6. From the client, ping the host record you created in step 2. Name resolution works perfectly, but this time returns the netbird IP Address of the host (100.110.x.x), as expected.
  7. Disconnect the netbird client.
  8. Try to ping ANY host in the zone that was created. Name resolution will fail.
    • A packet capture will show that all DNS requests for the zone/domain are being sent to 100.110.255.254 via the regular network adapter. Because the netbird adapter is not up, it is not reachable, and ALL DNS for the zone now fails.
  9. The only way to resolve network communication I've found is to reboot the client machine.

** Expected behaviour **

The DNS redirection/interception that is put in place when the netbird connection is brought up should be removed when the connection is terminated/disconnected.

NetBird version WIndows 11 - Netbird 0.66.3

Is any other VPN software installed? No