Block Ads With Pi-Hole!

Photo by Harrison Broadbent on Unsplash

Pi-hole is a free and open-source software that allows you to block ads, trackers, and other unwanted content on your network by acting as a DNS sinkhole. This means that it intercepts DNS queries and filters out any requests for known ad domains, preventing ads from being displayed on any device connected to your network. In this article, we will walk you through the process of setting up Pi-hole to block ads on your network.

Step 1: Prepare your Raspberry Pi

Pi-hole runs on a Raspberry Pi, so the first thing you will need is a Raspberry Pi board. You can purchase one online or from your local electronics store. Once you have your Raspberry Pi, you will need to install an operating system on it. We recommend using Raspberry Pi OS, which you can download from the official Raspberry Pi website.

Step 2: Install Pi-hole

Once you have installed Raspberry Pi OS on your Raspberry Pi, you can proceed with installing Pi-hole. You can do this by running the following command in the terminal:

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

This command will download and install Pi-hole on your Raspberry Pi. During the installation process, you will be prompted to choose your upstream DNS provider, configure your network settings, and set up your admin dashboard.

Step 3: Configure Pi-hole

After installing Pi-hole, you will need to configure it to block ads on your network. To do this, you will need to access your Pi-hole admin dashboard, which you can do by typing the IP address of your Raspberry Pi into a web browser followed by /admin. For example, if your Raspberry Pi's IP address is 192.168.1.100, you would type http://192.168.1.100/admin into your web browser.

Once you have accessed your Pi-hole admin dashboard, you can configure it to block ads by adding blocklists. Blocklists are lists of known ad domains that Pi-hole will block. You can add blocklists by going to the Settings tab and selecting Pi-hole's blocklists. Here, you can choose from a list of pre-configured blocklists or add your own custom blocklists.

Step 4: Set Pi-hole as your DNS server

To use Pi-hole to block ads on your network, you will need to set it as your DNS server. You can do this by going to your router’s settings and changing the DNS server to the IP address of your Raspberry Pi.

Once you have set Pi-hole as your DNS server, it will start intercepting DNS queries and filtering out any requests for known ad domains, preventing ads from being displayed on any device connected to your network.

Conclusion

Pi-hole is a powerful tool for blocking ads and other unwanted content on your network. By following the steps outlined in this article, you can set up Pi-hole on your Raspberry Pi and start enjoying an ad-free browsing experience on all your devices.

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