Quick and Easy Pi-hole Setup

Introduction

This tutorial will guide you through the quick and easy setup of Pi-hole, a network-wide ad blocker, using a Raspberry Pi. This setup is streamlined for efficiency, making it perfect for those who want to quickly block unwanted advertisements and tracking while browsing.

Step 1: Prepare Your Raspberry Pi

1. Download DietPi Image

   • Go to the DietPi website and download the appropriate image for your Raspberry Pi.

2. Flash the Image to an SD Card

   • Download and install Etcher from balena.io.
   • Insert your micro SD card into your computer.
   • Open Etcher, select the downloaded DietPi image, choose your SD card, and click "Flash" to write the image.

3. Insert the SD Card

   • Once the flashing process is complete, insert the micro SD card into your Raspberry Pi.

Step 2: Connect to Your Raspberry Pi

1. Power Up Your Raspberry Pi

   • Connect the Raspberry Pi to a power source and wait for it to boot up.

2. Find the Raspberry Pi's IP Address

   • Use a network scanning tool or check your router’s connected devices list to find the IP address assigned to your Raspberry Pi.

3. Access the Pi via SSH

   • On your computer, open a terminal (or use PuTTY if you’re on Windows).
   • Connect to your Raspberry Pi by entering:

     ssh pi@<YOUR_PI_IP_ADDRESS>
     

   • Replace <YOUR_PI_IP_ADDRESS> with the actual IP address. The default password is raspberry.

Step 3: Install Pi-hole

1. Run the Pi-hole Installation Command

   • Once logged in, execute the following command to start the installation:

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

   • Follow the on-screen prompts to configure your Pi-hole settings.

2. Choose Your Options

   • During installation, you will be prompted to select:
     • Your network interface (usually eth0 for wired).
     • DNS providers (you can choose popular ones like Google or Cloudflare).
     • Blocklists (you can use lists from Firebog or OISD).

Step 4: Configure Your Router

1. Set DNS to Pi-hole

   • Access your router’s settings.
   • Change the DNS server settings to point to your Raspberry Pi’s IP address.

2. Test Your Setup

   • After configuring your router, visit a website known for ads to see if they are being blocked.

Conclusion

You have successfully set up Pi-hole on your Raspberry Pi. This network-wide ad blocker will help improve your browsing experience by blocking unwanted ads and tracking. As a next step, consider exploring additional configurations within Pi-hole, such as enabling query logging or customizing block lists to further enhance your ad-blocking capabilities.