Pi Hole for Windows?

Question

I just found out about pi hole. Is there a way to set it up for a Windows PC?

Sandler CJ · Answer

You can. Run an Ubuntu on a VM like Hyper-V or VMware and install Pi Hole using curl -sSL https://install.pi-hole.net | bash. After installation, bridge your network from Windows to Ubuntu. Or just use the Docker container.

carbonious08 · Answer

Any other easy way? Need something simple and quick.

bymatt · Answer

Running Pi Hole with VM or Docker will require 500 M memory at minimum. I prefer using a DNS proxy like Acrylic or even the default Windows hosts.

bymatt · Answer

Instead of VM, you could edit your default hosts file at C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts and blacklist domain names that you want to block. Public blacklists like this and this should help. But be cautious and make sure everything points to your local IP.

Sandler CJ · Answer

Doesn’t a fat hosts file slow down the host service? I was using a similar setup before I switched to Pi Hole. I dig it for the dashboard and auto update features.

bymatt · Answer

Oh it does! The network svchost services hogs down resources once it begins reading the hosts. But for single device on a network, it is simple than running a VM. If it is for a network wide blocking a dedicated blackhole makes sense.