Running Pi-hole on a Raspberry Pi Zero 2W

Pi-hole is a network-wide DNS ad blocker. Every device on your network gets ad blocking without installing anything on each device. The Pi Zero 2W is the perfect low-power host.

What You Need

• Raspberry Pi Zero 2W
• MicroSD card (8GB+ is enough)
• Micro USB power supply (2A+)
• Ethernet adapter or WiFi (Zero 2W has built-in WiFi)

Step 1 — Flash Raspberry Pi OS Lite

Use Raspberry Pi Imager:

1. OS: Raspberry Pi OS Lite (64-bit) — no desktop needed
2. Settings (⚙️):
3. Enable SSH
4. Set WiFi credentials
5. Hostname: pihole.local
6. Username/password
7. Write to SD card, boot Pi Zero 2W

Step 2 — Assign Static IP

Before installing Pi-hole, give the Pi a static IP on your router.

In your router admin (usually 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.0.1):

• Find the Pi's MAC address in DHCP clients list
• Reserve/assign a static IP (e.g., 192.168.1.50)
• Note this IP — you'll configure Pi-hole to use it

Step 3 — Install Pi-hole

SSH into your Pi:

ssh [email protected]

Run the installer:

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

Follow the installer prompts:

• Upstream DNS: Cloudflare (1.1.1.1) or Quad9
• Blocklists: keep default, add more later
• Install web admin: Yes
• Log queries: Yes
• Privacy mode: 0 (Show everything)

Note the admin password shown at the end.

Step 4 — Point Your Router to Pi-hole

In your router DNS settings:

• Primary DNS: your Pi's static IP (e.g., 192.168.1.50)
• Secondary DNS: 1.1.1.1 (fallback if Pi-hole goes down)

All devices on the network now route DNS through Pi-hole.

Step 5 — Admin Interface

Go to: http://pihole.local/admin

Login with the password from installation.

Dashboard shows:

• Queries today / blocked percentage
• Top blocked domains
• Per-client breakdown

Adding Better Blocklists

Settings → Adlists:

Add URL → Save → Tools → Update Gravity to apply.

Tips

• Whitelist domains that break: Settings → Whitelist
• Query log shows what's being blocked — useful for troubleshooting
• Keep Pi-hole updated: pihole -up via SSH
• Pi Zero 2W uses ~1W of power — leave it running 24/7