guide · #homelab · 15 min

Build a Pi-hole Ad Blocker for Your Entire Network

Cech Tech Reviews

Block ads on every device in your home, including phones, smart TVs, and IoT devices, without installing anything on individual devices. Works at the DNS level.

1. 1

   Run Pi-hole in Docker

   docker run -d \
     --name pihole \
     --restart unless-stopped \
     -p 53:53/tcp -p 53:53/udp \
     -p 8053:80 \
     -e TZ=America/Chicago  # Change to your timezone (e.g., America/New_York, Europe/London, Asia/Tokyo) \
     -e WEBPASSWORD=yourpassword \
     -v ~/pihole/etc:/etc/pihole \
     -v ~/pihole/dnsmasq:/etc/dnsmasq.d \
     pihole/pihole:latest

2. 2

   Access the admin dashboard

   Open /:8053/admin and log in with the password you set. You will see real-time stats on queries and blocked domains.

3. 3

   Point your router's DNS to Pi-hole

   In your router settings, change the DNS server to the IP address of the machine running Pi-hole. Every device on your network now routes DNS through Pi-hole.

4. 4

   Add blocklists

   The default blocklist is good, but add more at Settings > Adlists. Popular lists: Steven Black's Unified Hosts, OISD, and Hagezi's lists. Apply and update gravity.

5. 5

   Whitelist anything that breaks

   Some sites stop working when ads are blocked. Check the Query Log to find the blocked domain and whitelist it. Common ones: s.youtube.com, cdn.optimizely.com.