From all research and Googling I’ve tried, it seems to me that it’s impossible, or at least very difficult without using very elaborate methods, to use Pi-hole simultaneously with a VPN CLIENT, because the VPN ends up handling all of the DNS stuff, circumventing the Pi-hole, and I end up with ads.
Have I got this right?
I’m successfully running Pi-hole on my network, but so far, using a VPN client is a no go, at least with the provider I’m using.
Running pihole and WireGuard here
Find better and you will find
Mine doesn’t work with my work vpn. I have to turn pi-hole off, connect to vpn, then turn it back on and it’s fine. However I don’t think it blocks anything when I’m on the vpn. But I don’t think I’ve ever gone to a site with ads on my laptop anyway.
I use Docker and put Pi-Hole in one container and WireGuard in another. There are some really good guides out there on how to run the two together.
I can tell you it works with F5’s Big IP client as that was what I used with a previous employer and never had to turn it off or anything.
You need a VPN that allows for custom DNS server. Most VPN forces its own DNS server.
My VPN, which comes as a package with Easynews, doesn’t offer WireGuard, but perhaps they might some day.
Yep this works great for me
So just to be clear, you are talking about WireGuard as a VPN client? And then Pi-hole is still able to get rid of ads?
I see all kinds of tutorial on running VPN servers, but a VPN client with an effective Pi-hole seems to be an extremely complicated setup, at least to a novice like me. Do you have a guide link to share?
This is what I thought was happening. Thanks for confirming with a sensible answer.
I think a lot of people who comment about pi-hole working with VPN are mixing up VPN tunneling back to your LAN, ie having a VPN server on your LAN, with having a VPN client on your LAN connecting to the internet through a VPN service.
So just to be clear, you are talking about WireGuard as a VPN client? And then Pi-hole is still able to get rid of ads?
Yes. You might want to look into how Docker containers work first. You can even run WireGuard off of an app on your phone and get your ads blocked on your phone while you’re off your home network. I run use both the command line and Portainer to manage my containers but that is just what helped me learn the most the quickest. I don’t want my entire network run through a VPN, only some devices. This setup allows you to do that. Or you could do your entire network, completely up to you.
This is a great guide, his videos have really, really helped me when I began all this a few weeks ago: https://www.the-digital-life.com/wireguard-docker/
Did you find the solution? I am running in the same issue when googling.
Like you stated, most people are confused between having VPN server vs VPN client. It seems like all the guide is for pi-hole working for your self-hosted VPN server at home.
I guess maybe I’m being a bit thick, and not trying to be a PITA. I didn’t watch the whole video, but this is about creating a VPN tunnel for clients into your LAN.
I want to eliminate ads on my LAN using pi-hole, and simultaneously use my router as a VPN client looking outward to the internet.
In fact, the last two comments in the link you sent me pretty much describes the problem as I see it.
Hi,
No, I just gave up on the whole thing LoL.
I guess maybe I’m being a bit thick, and not trying to be a PITA
Nah don’t apologize for that. I asked a bunch of questions when I started and still do so I get the feeling. Some of them I didn’t ask the right way so I had to keep re-asking haha.
What router do you have?