DNS Level Ad-Block - Pi-Hole - Free - Open Source

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Pi-Hole on Raspberry Pi Zero:

 

As more and more things become IoT and stay online and do who knows what about user data, it is right time to back control. This simple program can block ads at DNS level. Meaning you don't need an adblock anymore as ads never reach to you in the first place. This is truly a blackhole for ads!

 

Minimum Requirements:

Raspberry Pi Zero Wi-Fi (or new), MicroSD Card 8 GB, USB Drive, Micro USB Charger, Computer

(You can use different ISO based on your preference. This looks complex but can be done in minutes!

 

Steps:

1. Raspberry Pi OS (32-bit) Lite: https://downloads.raspberrypi.org/raspios_lite_armhf_latest

2. Write the ISO to USB Drive: https://sourceforge.net/projects/win32diskimager/

3. In order to connect this over WiFi to your router, we have to create two files:

  

a. wpa_supplicant.conf

    Create a text file with below info and then add ".conf" extension instead of .txt when you are done.:

ctrl_interface=DIR=/var/run/wpa_supplicant GROUP=netdev
update_config=1
country=<Insert 2 letter ISO 3166-1 country code here>

network={
 ssid="<Name of your wireless LAN>"
 psk="<Password for your wireless LAN>"
}

    Create an empty text file and name it "ssh" without quotes. Remove the .txt extension.

 

4. Put both files in to "boot" folder of USB drive. Once you have written the ISO image, you will see a boot folder on USB.

5. Connect to Micro USB charger.

6. In order to connect this to your PC over your home Wi-Fi, get PuTTY: https://the.earth.li/~sgtatham/putty/latest/w32/putty-0.74-installer.msi

7. Now we need to find out the address our Pi Zero has been assigned by router. Find it from router. Usually it is in the range of 192.168.0.XXX

8. Now open PuTTY on PC. Enter above address and confirm the prompt to accept the connection from Pi Zero

9. Default username and password are "pi" and "raspberry" without any quotes.

10. Run this command and it is done!

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

 

Now you can manage the Pi-Hole UI from any device over local Wi-Fi and see ads getting blocked. You can also add more adlists. Further detailed config: https://github.com/pi-hole/pi-hole