A Quieter Network with Pi-hole

Pi-hole reduces ads, trackers, and other unwanted domains across your home network. Phones, computers, smart TVs, and other devices can benefit without separate browser extensions, while the dashboard provides one place to review and control DNS activity.

It will not block every ad, and devices using their own DNS may bypass it, but it can still reduce clutter, tracking, and unnecessary downloads while giving you useful network visibility and control. Some pages may feel faster, although Pi-hole does not increase the connection speed provided by your ISP.

What You Need

• A Raspberry Pi supported by a current Raspberry Pi OS release
• A reliable power supply and microSD card
• Ethernet, preferably, or a stable Wi-Fi connection
• Access to your router’s DHCP or DNS settings
• Another computer from which to prepare and administer the Pi

Pi-hole is lightweight, but it must remain available whenever clients need DNS. Give the Pi a DHCP reservation or other stable local address. If its address changes later, clients may lose name resolution.

Prepare Raspberry Pi OS

Download Raspberry Pi Imager (opens in a new tab), insert the microSD card, and select a current Raspberry Pi OS Lite image. In the customization settings:

1. Set a recognizable hostname such as pihole.
2. Create a unique username and strong password.
3. Enable SSH.
4. Configure Wi-Fi only if you are not using Ethernet.

Confirm that the selected destination is the microSD card, then write the image. Insert it into the Pi, connect Ethernet if available, and power it on.

Find the Pi in your router’s connected-device list or try resolving its local hostname:

ping pihole.local

Connect over SSH using the username you created:

ssh YOUR_USERNAME@pihole.local

If local hostname discovery is unavailable, substitute the Pi’s current IP address.

Update the Operating System

Before installing another network service, update the system:

sudo apt update
sudo apt full-upgrade
sudo reboot

Reconnect after the reboot. In your router, create a DHCP reservation for the Pi’s address. A reservation is usually simpler and less error-prone than manually assigning an address on the device.

Install Pi-hole

Pi-hole’s official automated installer is:

curl -sSL https://install.pi-hole.net | bash

Piping a remote script into a shell is convenient but gives that script immediate execution. If you prefer to inspect it first, download it and read it before running:

wget -O basic-install.sh https://install.pi-hole.net
less basic-install.sh
sudo bash basic-install.sh

During installation, confirm the network interface and stable IP, choose an upstream DNS provider, and enable the web interface if you want browser-based administration. Save the administrator password. You can set a new one later without placing it in shell history:

pihole setpassword

Follow the official Pi-hole installation documentation (opens in a new tab) if its prompts differ from this overview.

Open the Dashboard

After the device is using Pi-hole for DNS, open:

https://pi.hole/admin/

During initial setup, or if that name does not resolve, use the Pi’s address:

https://PI_ADDRESS/admin/

Pi-hole v6 uses an embedded web server and can redirect HTTP to HTTPS. A browser may warn about its locally generated certificate, especially when you connect by IP address. Confirm that you entered the Pi’s local address before proceeding. The dashboard shows query activity, blocked requests, active clients, and filtering controls. Do not expose the administration interface or DNS service directly to the public internet.

Send Network DNS Through Pi-hole

The cleanest method is to have your router’s DHCP service advertise Pi-hole as the DNS server:

1. Sign in to the router.
2. Find its LAN, DHCP, or local DNS settings.
3. Enter the Pi’s reserved address as the DNS server.
4. Save the change.
5. Renew client DHCP leases or reconnect devices.

Router interfaces vary. Be careful not to confuse WAN DNS settings with the DNS address distributed to local clients.

Avoid entering a public resolver as a secondary client DNS server. Clients do not consistently treat the second address as an emergency fallback; some will use it routinely and bypass Pi-hole. For redundancy, run a second Pi-hole instance instead.

Check IPv6 as well as IPv4. If the router advertises an external IPv6 DNS server, compatible clients may use it and bypass Pi-hole. Advertise Pi-hole’s IPv6 address when the network and Pi-hole are configured for it, or stop the router from advertising a competing IPv6 resolver.

If the router cannot advertise a local DNS server, Pi-hole can provide DHCP, but only one DHCP server should be active on a network. Disable the router’s DHCP service only after understanding the change and having a recovery plan.

Verify That It Works

After a device renews its network configuration, open the Pi-hole query log and browse a few sites. The client should appear in the log. You can also inspect the DNS server assigned to the client through its network settings.

If nothing appears:

• Confirm that the client received Pi-hole’s address as DNS.
• Check for browser secure-DNS settings, VPNs, or device-specific DNS overrides.
• Verify that port 53 is reachable inside the LAN.
• Remember that cached DNS answers may not generate a fresh query immediately.

Tune Blocking Carefully

Start with Pi-hole’s defaults. Adding many overlapping third-party lists can increase false positives without producing a meaningful improvement.

When something breaks, inspect the query log to identify the blocked domain, allow only what is necessary, and retest. Groups can apply different policies to different clients—for example, a stricter profile for a television and a lighter one for a work computer.

Pi-hole sees DNS metadata, so the dashboard itself contains potentially sensitive information about network activity. Use a strong admin password and limit dashboard access to trusted devices.

Maintenance and Recovery

Keep Raspberry Pi OS and Pi-hole current, but read release notes before major upgrades:

sudo apt update
sudo apt full-upgrade
pihole -up

Use pihole version to display the installed Pi-hole versions and pihole status to check its services.

Use the web interface’s Teleporter feature to export Pi-hole settings. This is generally safer and more portable than copying a live configuration directory by hand. Also keep a note of your router’s original DNS and DHCP settings so you can restore normal service if the Pi fails.

Pi-hole works best when it is boring: a small, wired device with a stable address, conservative filters, a backup configuration, and no exposure beyond the local network.