Setting Up A Pi-hole Network Ad Blocker On A Raspberry Pi Zero W, Step by Step

[@JMJMJM978]

FYI for anyone doing this in 2024: the raspberry pi installer now has options to add wifi settings and enable ssh when flashing the OS on your microSD card. Makes the process a tiny bit more convenient :)

[@Spasmaticus]

@@JMJMJM978 Yes, can confirm, super easy

[@MA6manalac]

this video's ads are the last ads I'll ever watch again!

[@LighteningOne]

No you won't. Pi-hole does not block youtube ads because these are shown through the same video stream link from where the video is being streamed. Try U-origin.

[@TF12191]

@@LighteningOne brave browser, on any device ;)

[@patricklomasney]

@@TF12191 or KZbin Vanced

[@biljoe209]

lol, lmao

[@abac6404]

​@@LighteningOne😢

[@badiban]

This is the best tutorial I could find. No BS, no obnoxious intro, just straight and to the point. Thank you!!! I've got it running and I am very pleased.

[@delubiod1970]

I tried at least 6 tutorials before bumping into your tutorial. Those two files to add to the partition boot was missing in all of the 6 tutorials I watched. I was not able to make it to work. Now is working like a charm.

[@MichaelKlements]

That's great to hear, enjoy your Pi-hole!

[@4209211vikash]

Instantly subscribed. This is the first video I have seen from you and it was precisely the kind of video audiences wants. NO beating around the bush, cut to the chase, focused tutorial. Keep up the good work mate.

[@MichaelKlements]

Thank you for the great feedback!

[@Maxplanar1]

This is a model for how all tech setup videos should be done. Excellent video Michael, thank you.

[@MichaelKlements]

Thank you for the great feedback!

[@jancovanderwesthuizen8070]

I'm a simple man, i hear a SA accent, i subscribe

[@TheHugoShow-wi8rl]

😂❤👍

[@TheHugoShow-wi8rl]

Ya boet

[@barrykruyssen]

Great tutorial. Good pace, no extraneous content (bullsh1t) . Precise and to the point. Your my number one Pi source now.

[@MichaelKlements]

Thanks Barry!

[@Lalondeist]

About 3 years too late, but this is how every technical video should be. Excellent work, subscribed.

[@Spasmaticus]

Thanks for a great guide, just got mine running. Easy as a pi.

[@IBurnThings90]

It won't show up on my network at all.

[@ryanmerkel4832]

Great tutorial. Thank you! Was super simple and worked flawlessly!

[@harbirsaini665]

Thanks I was looking for this , can’t wait for my pi zero w to arrive

[@TheKickboxingCommunity]

It works! But some ads still come through, so I hope you have tutorials for this also ( to add more domains on the blocklist etc )

[@YoboVFX]

8:20 my pi was just disconnected now the router and the modem wont output any internet even after reconnecting the pi. how can i undo this or just not use the pi anymore?

[@MichaelKlements]

That's likely because you didn't set a static IP address for the Pi so now the router can't find it. If you want to undo it, just remove the Pi's IP address as the routers DNS address and add another DNS provider.

[@uknowme1811]

I set a music sserver and pi holle on my 0..no issues works great.

[@onegalaxyplay]

Ok I will also do that than.

[@valeriopampanoni3573]

Thanks, I set everything up in roughly half an hour following your guide. I used an old 8GB microSD, and I can confirm that it's enough for the purpose.

[@MichaelKlements]

That’s great!

[@einhalbesbrot]

Thank you so much i was wondering since i heard 4 should also be enough and in the video he says 16. Im gonna buy a bunch of 8 GBs now

[@alexandernewman331]

just wanted to say thanks and give a heads up on an issue I had for others. some provided gateways from ISPs will not let you change the DNS server in their settings and the DNS server is actually hardcoded in the gateway. you can get around this by changing the preferred DNS server in each of your device's settings or I have read you can also use the raspberry pi built-in DHCP server to get around it(haven't tried this).

[@MichaelKlements]

Thanks for the tip!

[@cobra646]

This is correct. I have used a Huawei B593 4G modem/router with a firmware that did not allow for changing the DNS. So I did it manually on the devices used in the network and it worked fine. Just meant going around and finding all the phones/tablets/laptops around the house.

[@TimothyEdDoran]

Thanks for the great instructions. It has worked perfectly for me.

[@MichaelKlements]

That’s great Tim!

[@Ice_2192]

Setting a static ip is SUPER IMPORTANT. I didn't do that first time and my router thought my mac mini and pi were the same person and immediately took down my access to the internet.

[@MichaelKlements]

Yes you really need to set a fixed IP address for a Pi-hole.

[@lrellim7269]

@@MichaelKlements and how do you do that? Can you set up a static even if your internet provider doesnt allow

[@shibemon]

BTW Michael thank you for the tutorial. very straight to the point and easy to understand.

[@YXHYX]

Why it don't block KZbin ads on Android and laptop even after I set up the DNS Configuration but it works on speed test

[@Cevans3535]

Thank you very much for your time creating this easy to follow video!

[@MichaelKlements]

Thanks for the great feedback, glad you managed to get yours running!

[@MrAlan0151]

Works great thank you for all your advice, your a star.

[@allofmybirds7525]

Thanks you absolute legend! Subscribed

[@supitsadriel6146]

I'm surprised this was the only video that I could follow after stressing on all the other complicated videos. Note, after you install Raspberry Pi OS on the sd card, add a file named "ssh" (you can make a new text file, then remove the file extension). That way, you won't have to go through the "connection refused" problem when you connect with Putty.

[@spud4242]

with the raspberry Pi imager you can enable SSh and set the wifi SSID and password to get setup when you image the SD card.

[@Devildude281]

Can anyone confirm if this blocks youtube ads on Smart TVs? Just heard they are bumping it up to 5 ads...

[@MichaelKlements]

This won't block KZbin ads as they're served from their own servers.

[@AdamSmith-oe3hu]

Amazing work Michael, thank you for making this process so simple to understand

[@MichaelKlements]

Glad it was useful to you!

[@keyindustries7458]

properly explain how to make the ssh file, does not show the extension to be able to delete it.

[@techdiyer5290]

Thanks!! i couldn't find out which text that was.

[@andriusvitalis1701]

this works so good! thanks dude

[@AzizLomigora]

Amazing tutorial, thank you so much!

[@ShyneflowLC]

My Pi zero w is on the way!

[@ShyneflowLC]

Ended up doing it with a different pi zero w case that was clear and made it look cool

[@Idiotmoron96]

Maybe you needed a wifi antenna?

[@gabrieltoothman7534]

Best tutorial out there👍

[@SpaceMarshalGyorni]

Fantastic video, thanks a lot! Neat and to the point. Small side note: There's plain text credentials visible at 7:06, you might want to blur that or something.

[@MichaelKlements]

Thank you! The credentials were all just generated for this tutorial video, I don't use this setup on my netowrk.

[@DD8842]

The best part is that they named it "pi hole" god I hope that never changes.

[@fotografm]

That was very helpful. Thank you !!! One thing I may have missed and needed to look up elsewhere was how to change the passord supplied for the pihole. This is done via the ssh command line and "pihole -a -p (password)".

[@MichaelKlements]

Thanks for the tip, I'll add this to the blog post.

[@ckmoore101]

My next project, but currently evaluating whether Pi-hole, or Adguard Home is the best choice. So many opinions on which is better. So far the edge seems to be for Adguard...

[@Gandalfnation]

very good tutorial thank you!

[@sammyy1105]

very easy to follow thanks!

[@patricklomasney]

If I am connecting it with an Ethernet cable will I need to add the extra config file and SSH file?

[@MichaelKlements]

You'll still need to add the SSH file, but won't need the config file.

[@patricklomasney]

@@MichaelKlements okay, thanks

[@sydmichel]

I have a question. If all traffic is being routed through the Pi, isn't that going to seriously effect the speed and bandwidth.? I have a gigabit internet connection, what speed will I get once PiHole is installed?

[@MichaelKlements]

Traffic isn't routed through the Pi. The DNS address is requested from the Pi and the Pi then provides the address or blocks it (a couple of kb), traffic still runs directly between the device and your router.

[@gringotom242]

Thanks mate great guide!

[@VagabondGFG]

Thanks for the clear tutorial. Will an 8 GB SD card be enough?

[@MichaelKlements]

16GB is usually recommended by you might be able to use an 8GB with an install of Raspberry Pi OS Lite

[@winandd8649]

No problem to use a smaller SD card than 16Gb. Rpi OS lite and PiHole only takes up 3 Gb..

[@carokann1802]

I heard you have to think about the log files that will be created. ofc you can define how long logs are kept and whether you want to log in the first place. if you accept recommended options during the configuration the pi will log ... a lot ...

[@clit24eugen]

I did flow all steps however my pi won't connect to the wifi with the light os version only with the full os version ... is this a known issue ?!

[@AjvarRelish]

I can't change my DNS on my ISP provided modem/router. So i've had to change the DNS on each device I wan't Pi-Hole to work on, that is connected to my wifi, right?

[@MichaelKlements]

Yeah if you aren't able to configure the settings on your router then you'll need to configure the individual devices on your network.

[@leaf9164]

@@MichaelKlements could you explain on how to configure the individual devices?

[@MichaelKlements]

I can't really do that as almost every device/manufacturer has a different process. You typically do this in the network/WiFi settings of the device. For example on an iPhone you'd go to the WiFi network, tap the icon next to it to open the settings for the network, then tap DNS and then set the DNS server to the IP address of the Pi Hole.

[@WakeUpAmerican000s]

Jonas - you would probably be better off to purchase your own router for $60-100. When you stop paying "rent" every month to your ISP, you'll end up saving money after a few months. Then you can set up your router the way that you want to. And you'll have Pi-hole protection for ALL devices, even those where you can't set a DNS setting (like IoT devices)

[@ahmetaydin9692]

My ssh connection is extremely slow. I have got a pi zero 2 w, can anyone help me?

[@ezras8889]

Can I make a pi hole on a wireless network such as a Verizon jet pack using a pi zero or will I need a pi with Wi-Fi capabilities

[@MichaelKlements]

You can set one up on any network that allows you to manage the DNS settings. The Pi doesn't have to have WiFi, it just needs to be on the same network.

[@jdmfh47]

Is the W version required or can I run this the the pi zero 1.3 and an ethernet adapter?

[@MichaelKlements]

You can run it on a Pi Zero with a connected Ethernet adaptor, you don't have to use WiFi.

[@summerbee80]

can i use the new RISC-V mango as an addblocker?

[@casey7223]

Towards the end you mentioned the USB from the router may/may not power the pi. Do I not need the supplied power cord?

[@MichaelKlements]

Yes, you'll need to run a USB cable between the router and the Pi to power it. Some router's supply enough power through this port to power a Pi and some don't. So it doesn't always work.

[@Beatfreax]

Do we need to set firewall rules to make it more secure?

[@MichaelKlements]

This doesn't change or enhance your network security at all, if you were using a firewall before then you should continue after installing this.

[@pivot9965]

If you put your secondary dns with out the raspberry pi ip. when the raspeberry gets offline will it still run on the web just with ads?

[@MichaelKlements]

That's the intention. It depends on your router though as some seem to split traffic between primary and secondary rather than use secondary as a fallback.

[@SleepSounds-d3h]

What did you use to plug the as card into the computer

[@SleepSounds-d3h]

Sd*

[@MichaelKlements]

Just a small micro sd card reader that came with a 3D printer of mine.

[@Forgetkt]

This work with the pi-zero w 2?

[@khalidalmeerani7336]

Hi Michael. I got everything to work so far but it seems like my moderm/router does not allow me to change any DNS settings. this is true with the service provider i have. Is there another way to get around this without buying another router? Can I manually adjust my dns server on my devices (iphone) so it can get a connection from the raspberryPi and not the moderm/router? Thank you

[@MichaelKlements]

Hi KA Photography, Yeah, some service providers lock certain settings in their routers, so you can't make the required changes. Yes, you can adjust your DNS settings at device level, just point your iPhone to your Pi-hole as the DNS server. This is a bit more effort to set up and obviously isn't automatic for new devices joining the network, but it is a workable solution.

[@khalidalmeerani7336]

@@MichaelKlements thank you for the great video it works great so far 🙌🏼.

[@winstonwolf2981]

Thanks, very helpful

[@kaaneris2757]

Great tutorial!

[@hardnachopuppy]

Is it possible todo this with usb to ethernet adapter?

[@MichaelKlements]

Yes you can add a USB Ethernet adpator to it if you'd like to

[@saifty2007]

If the SSID is A apple 1, should it be just that inside the quotes or should it be "A_apple_1" ????

[@MichaelKlements]

Yes it should be US. The Pi only has 2.4Ghz WiFi, that may be something to check. Also check that the SSID and password are correct, they're also case and space sensitive.

[@luisoquendo4488]

How do these instruction change when working on a Mac? I am having trouble with the wpa_supplicant part and changing it to .conf

[@MichaelKlements]

It shouldn't change. You'll just need to make sure that your computer settings as such that it is not hiding the file extension.

[@agoogolofgeese]

Is the Zero W still the best one to use? They're going for like $75 used on eBay now. Figured I might as well get a more recent model at that price..

[@MichaelKlements]

This will run on most Raspberry Pi's available at the moment - Pi 3, Pi 4, Zero and Zero 2 are all good for this project.

[@agoogolofgeese]

@@MichaelKlements awesome! Thank you. I think I’m actually going to go for the Pi 400, after doing some more research. Could use it for other things as well.

[@agoogolofgeese]

@@MichaelKlements also thanks for the video! Subscribed to your channel :)

[@ianwilsonT00x]

I've literally done this exact thing like 4 times and no matter what pi image i put on my cd card, when i ssh in it doesn't like the password.

[@Nykzom]

same here. Do you got it working without setting it up on a keyboard, mouse and desktop. I think thats the only way to reset the pw..sadly

[@evilolive3538]

Hey I added the notepad files to the SD card, but i think it is not connecting to the wifi and therefore cannot find the IP address. The WiFi is 5G, is that why it is not connecting?

[@MichaelKlements]

Yes, the Pi can only connect to 2.4GHz networks.

[@acorchia]

Thanks Michael! This was a great vid to follow up on! I think if I leave some secondary dns it should be a good backup in the rare case the pi doesn't come up, right?

[@MichaelKlements]

Yes if your router allows for it that'll be good. Just be aware that some routers just use the two interchangeably, so it doesn't try the primary and if that fails it tries the secondary, it just sends some requests to the primary and some to the secondary.

[@acorchia]

@@MichaelKlements Thanks for the extra info!

[@KlaasjanM]

Can you add multiple SSID's to the conf file?

[@MichaelKlements]

Not that I'm aware of

[@DJDashzn]

Fantastic tutorial. Do you know where we can get South Africa black list or regex

[@akshayaradjou8508]

would i be able to do this using a raspberry pi pico ?? for a small network with 5 users and under 20 devices

[@MichaelKlements]

The Pico is a microcontroller, it doesn't run an operating system and so can't run something like Pi-hole

[@stewtech]

can this be done with a pi zero that does not have wifi?

[@MichaelKlements]

Yes but you'd need to add some form of network adaptor via. USB

[@aaron.1985]

what connection does this use., via WIFI or LAN CABLE?

[@MichaelKlements]

WiFi

[@klarname]

Thanks for your work. Do you know if your instruction can also be used for a Rasperry Pi 1?

[@MichaelKlements]

Yes you can run Pihole on the original Raspberry Pi as well

[@klarname]

@@MichaelKlements , you are right thats what i also found out but thanks for for answering!

[@moo00se]

Thanks a lot! Easy to follow. I totally dig the written piece to go along with the video as well. Liked & subcribed. :D

[@MichaelKlements]

Thank you, glad you find it useful!

[@shresthishigwcivpadt9713]

Can you set cloudfare or google as the secondary DNS provider to still have access in case the pi is turned off?

[@MichaelKlements]

This would depend on your router, but is usually possible.

[@savourymilkman8147]

theres alwayus the chance that the router will redirect straight to secondary and not even consider the pi as the primary dns. you are alwyas conneceted to your router, theres no reason to do it otherwise as theres always the ability to logi n and change it again

[@zecouto8058]

i have a question, if you turn off you PI and turn back on will it automatically start blocking new traffic? or will i need to reset everything back again??

[@MichaelKlements]

If you reboot the Pi it'll start blocking traffic again. The only issue is that if your router doesn't have a secondary DNS server setting then when the Pi is off you won't be able to access any sites.

[@Ivan-kh4kh]

Thanks for the video! I have connected it to the router and found the network address but cant connect through putty. The connection times out. Any ideas how to fix this?

[@MichaelKlements]

Are you sure SSH has been turned on on your Pi?

[@Ivan-kh4kh]

@@MichaelKlements I figured it out! My laptop was on the 5G band and the Pi was on the 2.4G band. Once I changed my laptop to the matching band it worked just as you described. Thanks again!

[@MichaelKlements]

Ah yes, glad you've managed to find the issue. It's a pity the Pi 4 doesn't support 5G WiFi, hopefully the next generation will!

[@Backedone-ss5vw]

Hi man , much appreciated Any new updates March 2024 on the topic?

[@ceekay8485]

Can i run both omv and pi hole on the same pi zero 2w ?

[@MichaelKlements]

Yes you can, probably best to use Docker for this.

[@Lithium09]

What is docker? How to use one?

[@BL1TZED101]

Dose this work with a windows 10 pc for set up I live in Australia

[@MichaelKlements]

If you set this up through your router then it'll block ads across all devices on the network regardless of the OS.

[@craigcoffman69]

Question, what happens when piehole crashes? Do you loose the entire home network? Wife can reset the cable modem in a pinch, but not piehole.

[@MichaelKlements]

Unless your router has the “smarts” to use a secondary DNS then yes the network would go down. I’ve used this for over a year and it has never crashed though. If it did you could just cycle the power to it to reset it - this is obviously not ideal but would work if there is no other option.

[@ekka1790]

Hi, will my internet get slower if I route my modem dns from the raspberry pi trough wifi?

[@MichaelKlements]

In theory it's a bit slower, in practice you probably wouldn't notice any difference unless you have lots of devices (15+) all making requests on your network at the same time.

[@Anthony11783]

Network error: connection refused on puddy, is there a fix?

[@PetriJarvenpaa]

Really helpful, thank you!

[@WakeUpAmerican000s]

Great video, thank-you. What is the process to enhance and update the block lists? The Pi is only as effective as the currency and completeness of the block lists used and there doesn't seem to be a lot of info on where to get block lists to beef up one's Pi-hole.

[@MichaelKlements]

You just need to go to settings in the UI and you can add and remove lists there. It's as simple as pasting the web address for the new list and clicking save. Lists are auto-updated every Sunday morning by default. There are loads of forums which provide resources for additional lists and recommendations, the Pi-hole Reddit group is a good place to start.

[@WakeUpAmerican000s]

@@MichaelKlements - Thank you for your reply. I've seen references to installing a database on the Pi to handle the blacklists etc. so wasn't sure how complex it is. Waiting for my hardware to arrive now and I'm sure it'll all come clear once I actually start playing with it. Thank you again for your efforts.

[@joeschmo622]

Noice! I saw a few tutorials to make a PiHole out of a 3, etc., but wondered if I could just do it on a 0W. You answered that question, thanks!

[@MichaelKlements]

Definitely give it a try!

[@kazte]

Hi man, ty for the tutorial. I have a question, does the DNS only work for WiFi connections or, for example, does it also work for my desktop computer that is connected via Ethernet cable?

[@bkkorner]

I want to install Pihole on my Octopi. How do I go about it?

[@MichaelKlements]

You'll need to use something like Docker to install both on a single Pi

[@JungleIsMassiv]

good tutorial... did all this just to find my internet supplier (optus) blocks the DNS customise feature. otherwise would work perfectly!

[@MichaelKlements]

That's frustrating!

[@YouTubeDave-tp7ij]

Any hints on getting ads blocked better on IOS and MacOS devices? I've set my Pihole as the DNS server, but doesn't block very well. Seems like there's something about IOS and MacOS that makes Pihole less efficient. I've got mine installed on my Pi 4. It's a waste of a Pi, but I do like Pihole a lot.

[@itsjfam]

Can confirm this will work on a pi 1, and I used a ethernet cable and just skipped the wireless.txt part. also have it plugged into the modem, everything seems to be working just fine.

[@fallingxshadow]

Does anyone know if you can modify this to block ads on mobile apps?

[@dion2027]

Hey! I just did this, and my panel works. The only thing is that i don't see many options in the admin menu like you. How to fix this? I did everything step by step with putty ect.. but my pi is from 2014 (B+ i thought) does that make a diffrence?

[@MichaelKlements]

Are you logged into the Pi-hole? You need to go to the web interface and use your login details provided during setup to log into the admin page, you should then see the same options. If you're not logged in then you just see a summarized version.

[@dion2027]

@@MichaelKlements i made it work, thank you! It doesn't block youtube ads.. that is sad :(

[@MichaelKlements]

Yeah it won't block adds on sites that serve their own advertising content. KZbin serve their own ads, so no requests are made to external sites.

[@TheSabin567]

I could do everthing with no issues. However, when trying to access the terminal via Putty i do not get "login as:" But i get a blank screen. What would have gone wrong?

[@MichaelKlements]

It seems that the Pi isn't booting up correctly. Try re-flashing the SD card again.

[@rotopercutorash]

wait! does it need to connect to router via ethernet? or will it use wifi?

[@MichaelKlements]

This uses WiFi, no Ethernet required

[@ChrisPavlides]

is there any difference on latency btw the wired and the Wireless Pi-Zero ?

[@MichaelKlements]

There is definitely a difference, but you're talking about 5 milliseconds or so on the WiFi and maybe 0.5 milliseconds on Ethernet. I doubt that a couple of thousandths of a second would make much difference for most people who would be using Pi-hole for web browsing, streaming etc.

[@samuelfarrar8954]

thank you so much

[@tearfulplace5015]

Besides KZbin what other websites or apps does this not work on?

[@MichaelKlements]

Any website which serves its own ads. This only works if the site calls an ad service to provide ads on the site/platform.

[@chubbyelf5094]

Hey, thanks for the video, but you are missing a direct link to the wpa_supplicant text file in the video description. Had to jump through some hoops to find it on your personal website, it would be better in the description!

[@MikeWeids]

Thanks for the tutorial! The only problem now is actually finding a Zero W to use for it :) Any reason you opted for wireless vs wired (with an ethernet attachment)? Have you experienced any notable decrease in speeds or WiFi connectivity issues after installing?

[@MichaelKlements]

I don't have an USB Ethernet dongle, so tried with the WiFi connection and it has worked really well. I haven't had any issues with it or noticed any decrease in internet speed since installing it. The DNS lookup portion of a page load is miiliseconds, so even if the wireless connection is half as fast as wired, you likely won't notice the extra 50-100 or so milliseconds added to the load speed.

[@Bildup4]

@@MichaelKlements Could you make a follow-up video on how to connect an Ethernet adapter to a Raspberry Pi Zero? Also, do you agree with my view that the Raspberry Pi Zero W is the best option for this type of project? It seems like the other Raspberry Pi models are overkill, especially when you consider the cost and power consumption for something as simple as running a DNS server.

[@timothyvo3749]

Great helpful video! Really easy to follow, but I found out my Xfinity modem/router won't let me change DNS, is there a work around besides using my own modem?

[@MichaelKlements]

You can set the DNS at device level. It’s a lot more effort but is a work-around in this case. So point each device (iPhone, computer etc) to the Pi for its DNS