How to Set Up a Raspberry Pi Ad Blocker with Pi-hole - Raspberry Pi BD

In this guide, you’ll learn how to turn your Raspberry Pi into a powerful DNS-level ad blocker in under 30 minutes.

🧰 What You’ll Need

• Raspberry Pi (any model, but Pi 3 or newer recommended)
• Raspberry Pi OS (Lite or Desktop)
• MicroSD card (8GB+)
• Internet connection
• Terminal or SSH access

⚙️ Step 1: Update Your Raspberry Pi

sudo apt update && sudo apt full-upgrade -y

⬇️ Step 2: Install Pi-hole

Run the official installation script:

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

Follow the guided setup to choose your network interface, DNS provider, and set a static IP (important for Pi-hole to work reliably).

🌐 Step 3: Access the Pi-hole Dashboard

Once installed, open a browser and visit:

http://[your.pi.ip.address]/admin

Log in with the password shown at the end of installation (you can change it with pihole -a -p).

📱 Step 4: Point Devices to Your Pi-hole

You can make Pi-hole your default DNS server in two ways:

1. Per-device: Set the DNS on each phone, PC, or smart device to your Pi-hole IP.
2. Router-level: Set your router’s DNS to point to the Raspberry Pi. This blocks ads across your entire network automatically.

💡 Bonus: Block Trackers and Malware

Pi-hole lets you add custom blocklists for extra protection against trackers, telemetry, and malicious sites. Explore sources like:

• Firebog.net
• StevenBlack’s hosts file

📊 Monitor with the Web UI

See blocked requests, top domains, and device-level stats—all in real time. The Pi-hole dashboard is clean, fast, and mobile-friendly.

🔐 Security Tips

• Change the default admin password
• Use a firewall to block external DNS queries
• Disable Pi-hole’s admin panel externally if not needed

⚙️ Common Pi-hole Commands

pihole status        # Show current status
pihole -a -p         # Change web admin password
pihole -g            # Update blocklists
pihole restartdns    # Restart DNS service

🎯 Why Use a Raspberry Pi Ad Blocker?

• Blocks ads on all devices—smart TVs, phones, tablets, consoles
• Speeds up browsing by eliminating tracking scripts
• Protects privacy and reduces data usage
• No need for browser extensions