When you try to point your domain to InfinityFree’s nameservers (ns1.infinityfree.com and ns2.infinityfree.com), your registrar might refuse the change with error messages like:
DNS Query Refused
ERROR: Answer must be authoritative
The name server is not responsible for this domain
Domain is not activated in the nameservers
What should I do?
You have two main options to solve this problem:
Option 1: Use CNAME verification instead
Instead of changing nameservers, you can verify your domain ownership by adding a CNAME record to your current DNS settings. This is often the easiest solution.
You can find step-by-step instructions for CNAME verification here:
Option 2: Switch to a different registrar
Some domain registrars are more flexible about nameserver changes than others. If your current registrar won’t let you update the nameservers, you can transfer your domain to one that doesn’t enforce these strict checks.
For example, Spaceship is a registrar that works well with InfinityFree and doesn’t block nameserver changes for this reason.
Why does this happen?
This is a chicken-and-egg problem: the system wants to see DNS records before allowing the nameserver change, but we can’t create the DNS records until your domain is added to your hosting account.
The validation can happen at two levels. Registry-level validation is enforced by the organization that manages the domain extension (like .de or .com.br) and applies regardless of which registrar you use. Registrar-level validation is enforced by your specific domain provider and varies between companies, though this is becoming less common.
When your registrar or registry checks our nameservers for your domain’s DNS records, they don’t find any because we only create them after you successfully add the domain to your InfinityFree account. This causes the validation to fail and prevents the nameserver change.
Which domains are affected?
Registry-level validation: These domain extensions have strict rules built into the system that cannot be bypassed:
- .com.br
- .de
- .dk
- .hu
- .it
For these extensions, CNAME verification is your only option.
Registrar-level validation: This can potentially happen with any domain extension (.com, .net, .org, etc.) depending on your registrar’s policies, but it’s becoming less common.
What won’t work
Waiting: The error won’t resolve on its own since we need your domain added to your account before we can create the DNS records.
Summary
If you can’t change your nameservers to InfinityFree’s servers, use the CNAME verification method instead. It’s usually faster and easier than trying to work around registrar or registry restrictions.