diff --git a/common/src/main/java/io/netty/util/NetUtil.java b/common/src/main/java/io/netty/util/NetUtil.java
index 5ac18a353a..b990d0e988 100644
--- a/common/src/main/java/io/netty/util/NetUtil.java
+++ b/common/src/main/java/io/netty/util/NetUtil.java
@@ -118,16 +118,24 @@ public final class NetUtil {
     private static final int IPV4_SEPARATORS = 3;
 
     /**
-     * {@code true} if ipv4 should be used on a system that supports ipv4 and ipv6.
+     * {@code true} if IPv4 should be used even if the system supports both IPv4 and IPv6.
      */
     private static final boolean IPV4_PREFERRED = Boolean.getBoolean("java.net.preferIPv4Stack");
 
+    /**
+     * {@code true} if an IPv6 address should be preferred when a host has both an IPv4 address and an IPv6 address.
+     */
+    private static final boolean IPV6_ADDRESSES_PREFERRED = Boolean.getBoolean("java.net.preferIPv6Addresses");
+
     /**
      * The logger being used by this class
      */
     private static final InternalLogger logger = InternalLoggerFactory.getInstance(NetUtil.class);
 
     static {
+        logger.debug("-Djava.net.preferIPv4Stack: {}", IPV4_PREFERRED);
+        logger.debug("-Djava.net.preferIPv6Addresses: {}", IPV6_ADDRESSES_PREFERRED);
+
         byte[] LOCALHOST4_BYTES = {127, 0, 0, 1};
         byte[] LOCALHOST6_BYTES = {0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1};
 
@@ -278,12 +286,27 @@ public final class NetUtil {
     }
 
     /**
-     * Returns {@code true} if ipv4 should be prefered on a system that supports ipv4 and ipv6.
+     * Returns {@code true} if IPv4 should be used even if the system supports both IPv4 and IPv6. Setting this
+     * property to {@code true} will disable IPv6 support. The default value of this property is {@code false}.
+     *
+     * @see <a href="https://docs.oracle.com/javase/8/docs/api/java/net/doc-files/net-properties.html">Java SE
+     *      networking properties</a>
      */
     public static boolean isIpV4StackPreferred() {
         return IPV4_PREFERRED;
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Returns {@code true} if an IPv6 address should be preferred when a host has both an IPv4 address and an IPv6
+     * address. The default value of this property is {@code false}.
+     *
+     * @see <a href="https://docs.oracle.com/javase/8/docs/api/java/net/doc-files/net-properties.html">Java SE
+     *      networking properties</a>
+     */
+    public static boolean isIpV6AddressesPreferred() {
+        return IPV6_ADDRESSES_PREFERRED;
+    }
+
     /**
      * Creates an byte[] based on an ipAddressString. No error handling is
      * performed here.
diff --git a/resolver-dns/src/main/java/io/netty/resolver/dns/DnsNameResolver.java b/resolver-dns/src/main/java/io/netty/resolver/dns/DnsNameResolver.java
index a9d592eb8c..cfb7a78e1c 100644
--- a/resolver-dns/src/main/java/io/netty/resolver/dns/DnsNameResolver.java
+++ b/resolver-dns/src/main/java/io/netty/resolver/dns/DnsNameResolver.java
@@ -70,21 +70,24 @@ public class DnsNameResolver extends InetNameResolver {
     private static final String LOCALHOST = "localhost";
     private static final InetAddress LOCALHOST_ADDRESS;
 
-    static final InternetProtocolFamily[] DEFAULT_RESOLVE_ADDRESS_TYPES = new InternetProtocolFamily[2];
+    static final InternetProtocolFamily[] DEFAULT_RESOLVE_ADDRESS_TYPES;
     static final String[] DEFAULT_SEACH_DOMAINS;
 
     static {
-        // Note that we did not use SystemPropertyUtil.getBoolean() here to emulate the behavior of JDK.
-        if (Boolean.getBoolean("java.net.preferIPv6Addresses")) {
-            DEFAULT_RESOLVE_ADDRESS_TYPES[0] = InternetProtocolFamily.IPv6;
-            DEFAULT_RESOLVE_ADDRESS_TYPES[1] = InternetProtocolFamily.IPv4;
-            LOCALHOST_ADDRESS = NetUtil.LOCALHOST6;
-            logger.debug("-Djava.net.preferIPv6Addresses: true");
-        } else {
-            DEFAULT_RESOLVE_ADDRESS_TYPES[0] = InternetProtocolFamily.IPv4;
-            DEFAULT_RESOLVE_ADDRESS_TYPES[1] = InternetProtocolFamily.IPv6;
+        if (NetUtil.isIpV4StackPreferred()) {
+            DEFAULT_RESOLVE_ADDRESS_TYPES = new InternetProtocolFamily[] { InternetProtocolFamily.IPv4 };
             LOCALHOST_ADDRESS = NetUtil.LOCALHOST4;
-            logger.debug("-Djava.net.preferIPv6Addresses: false");
+        } else {
+            DEFAULT_RESOLVE_ADDRESS_TYPES = new InternetProtocolFamily[2];
+            if (NetUtil.isIpV6AddressesPreferred()) {
+                DEFAULT_RESOLVE_ADDRESS_TYPES[0] = InternetProtocolFamily.IPv6;
+                DEFAULT_RESOLVE_ADDRESS_TYPES[1] = InternetProtocolFamily.IPv4;
+                LOCALHOST_ADDRESS = NetUtil.LOCALHOST6;
+            } else {
+                DEFAULT_RESOLVE_ADDRESS_TYPES[0] = InternetProtocolFamily.IPv4;
+                DEFAULT_RESOLVE_ADDRESS_TYPES[1] = InternetProtocolFamily.IPv6;
+                LOCALHOST_ADDRESS = NetUtil.LOCALHOST4;
+            }
         }
     }