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Clear the hold on the domain

dns.registration.on_hold · effort: about an hour

Why it matters

A hold status stops the registry from publishing the domain in the DNS, so the website and email do not work. It is set for non-payment, unverified contact details, abuse reports or legal reasons.

The fix

  1. Log in to your registrar and read the status notice for the domain, or contact support and ask why the domain is on hold. A clientHold is set by the registrar, and a serverHold by the registry.
  2. Common reasons are unpaid renewal fees, an unverified registrant email (for generic domains such as .com, ICANN requires the registrar to verify contact details within 15 days of a registration or change; if the owner does not confirm, the registrar verifies them another way or suspends the domain), and abuse or legal complaints.
  3. Fix the cause, such as paying, confirming the verification email, or answering the complaint, then ask the registrar to remove the hold.
  4. Once the hold is removed it can take some hours for DNS to publish again. Check the domain status and that the nameservers are back.
  5. Check that nameservers are set and that the registrant email is one that you read.
bash 
# no whois command? Look the domain up at https://lookup.icann.org/ instead
whois example.com | grep -i status
dig NS example.com +short

The examples use example.com. Replace it with your own domain.

Read the documentation (opens in a new tab)

Related

Scan your domain to see whether this applies to you.