Troubleshoot Cloud Domains

This page describes common issues that you might encounter while using Cloud Domains and how to resolve them.

Domain registration issues

The searchDomains API call shows a domain name as available, but retrieveRegisterParameters shows it is not

The searchDomains call checks a large space of possible domain names to provide suggestions. It relies on an availability cache that might be incomplete or out of date. The retrieveRegisterParameters call, on the other hand, deals with only one domain name at a time and provides up-to-date domain name availability information.

You cannot use preferred contact privacy mode with the domain you are trying to register

The available contact privacy modes depend on the ending of the domain name that you choose. Domain endings are administered by many different partner registries, and some of these have unique behavior and requirements. For example, some domain endings don't allow contact privacy at all, and others redact certain parts of your contact information from the public WHOIS registry. Prior to registration, refer to the supportedPrivacy field in the output of retrieveRegisterParameters to determine which contact privacy modes are supported for a given domain name. After registration, the supported contact privacy modes are listed in the supportedPrivacy field of the registration resource.

During registration, a registration resource seems to be stuck in state: REGISTRATION_PENDING

The REGISTRATION_PENDING state should be short-lived, in the order of a few minutes in most cases, before transitioning to ACTIVE. If a registration is pending for more than a few hours, contact Google Cloud support.

During registration, a registration resource ends up in state: REGISTRATION_FAILED

When a domain registration fails, you can call retrieveRegisterParameters again to check whether the domain is still available. If it is, you can delete your registration and try to register again.

There are also a number of common data-quality issues that can cause your domain registration to fail. For example, if you are setting custom name servers when registering the domain, they might not be recognized as registered name servers by the controlling registry. To complete your registration, you can temporarily set your DNS provider to Cloud DNS and change it after registration.

For details about the errors that you might receive during domain registration, see Errors during domain registration.

If the problem persists, contact Google Cloud support.

You are getting a Quota exceeded error while trying to register a domain

You might have exceeded the quota for the number of registered domains. For detailed information about quotas, see the Quotas page.

Registrant email verification issues

Why do you have to verify your email address after registering a domain?

Google is required to verify the email address of a new registrant whenever a domain is registered. Google sends the registrant an email with instructions for completing the verification. Failing to verify your email address within 15 days after registration results in domain suspension.

After registering a domain, you don't get a verification email

If you used the same registrant email address before with another domain name, you might not need to verify the address again. You can check your verification status directly on the registration resource, which shows UNVERIFIED_EMAIL in the issue field if your verification is pending. You can trigger a resend of the verification email on the Cloud Domains Registration details page.

You registered a domain with the wrong registrant email address

If your registrant email address contains a typo or is otherwise inaccessible by the named registrant, you can edit the registrant email address on the Google Domains registration settings page. Changing the registrant email address requires identity confirmation by SMS or a phone call to the registrant phone number.

If you don't have access to either the registrant email address or the phone number, use the form on the Google Domains support page to discuss alternate methods of identity verification.

Your domain got suspended due to lack of email verification

If your domain is suspended due to lack of email verification, your registration resource will be in state: SUSPENDED, and the issue field will contain UNVERIFIED_EMAIL. In this case, trigger a resend of the verification email on the Cloud Domains Registration details page, and then follow the instructions in that email to complete email verification. After verification is completed, your domain's suspension is automatically lifted.

Contact configuration issues

Changes to your contact configuration are not taking effect

Due to ICANN requirements, many types of contact changes require confirmation from both the previous registrant and the new registrant. While changes that you made are awaiting such confirmation, they are temporarily listed in the pendingContactSettings field of the registration resource. To confirm pending changes, the earlier and new registrants must follow the confirmation instructions that they receive.

To resend change confirmations that might have been lost, trigger a resend of the verification email on the Cloud Domains Registration details page.

You are listed as the registrant contact, but have lost access to your domain

Registrants are considered to be the rightful owners of a domain registration. If you are listed as the registrant contact but have lost access to the domain, use the form on the Google Domains support page to contact the support team. After verifying your identity, the support team can reinstate your access.

You deleted a project and lost access to your domain

If you delete the project that contains your Registration resource, you lose access to the domain. You have a few recovery options. If you deleted the project recently, you can restore the project, and then you can transfer a registered domain to another registrar.

If you cannot restore your project, the registrant contact can reach out to Google Cloud support to gain access to the domain.

Contact details while registering or transferring a domain for a company

When registering a domain that is owned by a company, the registrant must provide the company's contact details such as email address and phone number. If the registrant provides their personal contact details, the company might lose access to the domain when the registrant leaves.

DNS configuration issues

You made changes to your DNS configuration but the changes are not taking effect

Due to the nature of DNS as a distributed system, changes to DNS configurations often take a while to propagate to the entire internet. This is because DNS resolvers anywhere in the world can cache your earlier configuration for a length of time equal to the TTL of that record. Thus, it might take the full duration of the previously configured TTL for your new configuration to become fully visible. For Cloud Domains, changes to the DNS provider or name servers and changes related to DNSSEC can often take up to a day to become fully visible across the internet.

You published DS records and now your domain is not resolving

Publishing DS records is the last step in enabling DNSSEC for your domain. To ensure that your domain continues to resolve, DS records should generally be removed a day or two before changing your name servers or DNS provider. Similarly, new DS records should be published no sooner than a day or two after completing a name server or DNS provider change.

If problems resolving your domain coincide with changes to DS records, it means that your DNS domain provider has not properly signed your domain's DNS configuration. You can remove the DS records to see if that fixes the problem. However, like any other DNS change, removing the DS records can take some time (up to the TTL of the removed records) to take effect.

You chose Google Domains as your DNS provider, but cannot see your zone in Cloud DNS

Choosing Google Domains as your free DNS provider means that you must manage your DNS configuration by using the Google Domains website. These DNS configurations are not visible in the Cloud DNS product and don't provide API access for configuration. If you require API access, create a zone in Cloud DNS and configure your domain to use that zone.

Billing issues

For detailed domain pricing information, see Cloud Domains pricing. For common billing questions, see Billing questions.

You want to disable automatic renewals for your domain

By default, all domains in Cloud Domains renew automatically. To turn off automatic renewal of your domain, see Turn off automatic renewal for a domain name. You can manage the domain in Cloud Domains until its current registration period expires and you are billed for the full registration year.

You want to delete your domain and return it to the pool of available domains

If you want to delete your domain before your registration expires, you can do so from the Google Domains registration settings page.

For information about how to delete a domain in Google Domains, see Delete a domain.

Import from and export to Google Domains issues

Can I move my registration resource to a different project?

This is no longer supported.

Your domain was exported to Google Domains or deleted, and some people lost access

Cloud Domains uses Identity and Access Management (IAM) to manage permissions to domains, while Google Domains has its own separate permission system. When you transfer a domain from Cloud Domains to Google Domains, the account performing the export operation becomes the sole owner of the domain in Google Domains. That account can then share access to the domain with other accounts by using the Google Domains registration settings page.

To learn how to share domain management with other Google Domains users, see Domain management sharing. For information about how to manage registration settings in Google Domains, see Manage settings.

Domain transfer issues to and from other registrars

You want to transfer your domain from Cloud Domains to another registrar but can't access your transfer authorization code

Cloud Domains does not allow transfers to other registrars within the first 60 days of registration. You can contact Google Domains support to request an exception.

If your registration has crossed the 60-day limit, see Get or reset an authorization code.

Domain suspension issues

Your domain stopped working and has state: SUSPENDED

When your registration resource is in state: SUSPENDED, you can generally find more information in the issues field. The most common cause of suspension is issues: UNVERIFIED_EMAIL. For details, see the Registrant email verification section.

There are many other possible causes of domain suspension. If you see issues: CONTACT_SUPPORT on your registration resource, contact the Google Cloud support team to learn more about the domain suspension.

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