Note: There is no endorsement or partnership between this page and ©Pi-hole, LLC
I take no credit for their most excellent adblocking DNS server, this is just a script that convinces it to run on Windows.
By utilizing the Windows Subsystem for Linux it's possible to run Pi-hole on a Windows 10 PC just like any other Windows app. The install script performs an automated install of Pi-hole 5.2+ on Windows 10 (version 1809 and newer) or Windows Server 2019 (Core and Standard) - No Virtualization, Docker, or Linux expertise required.
This approach uses fewer resources than the better-known hypervisor/container solution, and runs on older CPU's without VT support, or on a VPS without pass-through virtualization. If you have an old Windows 8 tablet or Atom-powered HDMI stick with 1GB RAM, this will work.
You can use this to block ads for your entire network but real/dedicated hardware may be more advisable in that situation. Pi-hole for Windows' original use case is for ad-blocking on-the-go instead of managing a HOSTS file on your laptop, to research/block OS telemetry messages, or to have a look at Pi-hole's feature set before comitting to hardware.
INSTRUCTIONS: Copy PH4WSL1.cmd to your computer, right click the file and select "Run as Administrator."
The Ubuntu download and configuration steps complete in 5-20 minutes, depending on your hardware. The script will:
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Enable WSL1 and download Ubuntu 20.04 from Microsoft
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Download the LxRunOffline distro manager and install Ubuntu 20.04
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Perform gateway detection and create a /etc/pihole/setupVars.conf file for automated install
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Run the installer from Pi-hole©
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Patch Pi-hole installer to use netstat.exe instead of lsof, along with other fix-ups for WSL1 compatibility.
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Add exceptions to Windows Firewall for DNS and the Pi-hole admin page
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Includes a Scheduled Task to accomodate auto-start at boot, before logon.
Configure this by opening Windows Task Scheduler (taskschd.msc) and right-click the Pi-hole for Windows task, click edit.
On the General tab, place a checkmark next to both Run whether user is logged on or not and Hidden
On the Conditions tab, un-check the option Start the task only if the computer is on AC power
Requires August/September 2020 WSL update for Windows 10. If you don't have Windows up to date, Pi-hole installer will throw an "Unsupported OS" error midway through the installation. If this occurrs uninstall Pi-hole, update your machine and try again. The minimum required updates are as follows:
- 1809 - KB4571748
- 1909 - KB4566116
- 2004 - KB4571756
- 20H2 - Included in OS
Additional Info:
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DHCP Server is not supported and has been removed from the UI
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IPv6 DNS now works in addition to IPv4
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To reset or reconfigure Pi-Hole, run Pi-hole Configuration.cmd in the Pi-hole install folder
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To uninstall Pi-Hole go to the Pi-hole install folder, right-click Pi-hole Uninstall.cmd and click Run As Administrator. If you plan on reinstalling, remember to first export your configuration via the Pi-hole web interface.
Trimmed console dump and screenshots:
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Pi-hole for Windows
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Set location for 'Pi-hole' install folder or hit enter for default [C:\Program Files] ->
Pi-hole will be installed in "C:\Program Files\Pi-hole" and Web Admin will listen on port 80
Press any key to continue . . .
This will take a few minutes: Installing Ubuntu 20.04 -> Compacting the install -> Install dependencies
Extracting templates from packages: 100%
Launching Pi-hole installer...
% Total % Received % Xferd Average Speed Time Time Time Current
Dload Upload Total Spent Left Speed
100 145 100 145 0 0 362 0 --:--:-- --:--:-- --:--:-- 364
100 121k 100 121k 0 0 100k 0 0:00:01 0:00:01 --:--:-- 222k
[✓] Root user check
.;;,.
.ccccc:,.
:cccclll:. ..,,
:ccccclll. ;ooodc
'ccll:;ll .oooodc
.;cll.;;looo:.
.. ','.
.',,,,,,'.
.',,,,,,,,,,.
.',,,,,,,,,,,,....
....''',,,,,,,'.......
......... .... .........
.......... ..........
.......... ..........
......... .... .........
........,,,,,,,'......
....',,,,,,,,,,,,.
.',,,,,,,,,'.
.',,,,,,'.
..'''.
[✓] Update local cache of available packages
[i] Existing PHP installation detected : PHP version 7.4.3
[i] Performing unattended setup, no whiptail dialogs will be displayed
[✗] Checking apt-get for upgraded packages
Kernel update detected. If the install fails, please reboot and try again
[i] Installer Dependency checks...
[✓] Checking for dhcpcd5
[✓] Checking for git
[✓] Checking for iproute2
[✓] Checking for whiptail
[✓] Checking for dnsutils
[✓] Supported OS detected
[i] SELinux not detected
[✗] Check for existing repository in /etc/.pihole
[i] Clone https://github.com/pi-hole/pi-hole.git into /etc/.pihole...HEAD is now at 0d8ece1 Merge pull request #3889 from pi-hole/release/v5.2.1
[✓] Clone https://github.com/pi-hole/pi-hole.git into /etc/.pihole
[✗] Check for existing repository in /var/www/html/admin
[i] Clone https://github.com/pi-hole/AdminLTE.git into /var/www/html/admin...HEAD is now at 8ac95be Merge pull request #1647 from pi-hole/release/v5.2.1
[✓] Clone https://github.com/pi-hole/AdminLTE.git into /var/www/html/admin
[✓] Storing downloaded domains in new gravity database
[✓] Building tree
[✓] Swapping databases
[i] Number of gravity domains: 85084 (85053 unique domains)
[i] Number of exact blacklisted domains: 0
[i] Number of regex blacklist filters: 0
[i] Number of exact whitelisted domains: 0
[i] Number of regex whitelist filters: 0
[✓] Flushing DNS cache
[✓] Cleaning up stray matter
[✗] DNS service is NOT listening
[i] The install log is located at: /etc/pihole/install.log
Update Complete!
Current Pi-hole version is v5.2.1.
Current AdminLTE version is v5.2.1.
Current FTL version is v5.3.2.
[✓] DNS service is listening
[✓] UDP (IPv4)
[✓] TCP (IPv4)
[✓] UDP (IPv6)
[✓] TCP (IPv6)
[✓] Pi-hole blocking is enabled
[✓] Restarting DNS server
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pi-hole Web Admin, Enter New Password (Blank for no password):
[✓] Password Removed
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SUCCESS: The scheduled task "Pi-hole for Windows" has successfully been created.
Pi-hole for Windows installed in C:\Program Files\Pi-hole
Press any key to continue . . .
C:\>
Installer run:
Install Folder:
Install Complete:
