Install Pi-Hole on Windows 10 Via WSL

Installing WSL

  1. Log into the Windows 10 device
  2. Launch PowerShell as administator by right clicking the Start button > search power > Right click on Windows PowerShell > Run as Administrator
  3. Run the following command to install WSL
    # install WSL
    dism.exe /online /enable-feature /featurename:Microsoft-Windows-Subsystem-Linux /all /norestart
    # reboot the system
    Restart-Computer -Force
  4. If running Windows 2004 or newer, run the following additional commands to use WSL 2
    dism.exe /online /enable-feature /featurename:VirtualMachinePlatform /all /norestart
    wsl --set-default-version 2
  5. After the device reboots, download the PiHole for WSL installer script Download
  6. Right click the downloaded .cmd file > Run as Administrator
  7. Press Enter to accept the default install location (C:\Program Files)
  8. Press Enter to continue with the installation
  9. When prompted, enter and confirm a Pi-Hole admin password
  10. After the Pi-Hole installation script completes, right click the Start button > run > type cmd > Press Enter
  11. Run the following commands in command prompt
    # enter wsl prompt
    wsl
    # edit resolv.conf
    sudo nano /etc/resolv.conf
  12. Add the following line

    nameserver 127.0.0.1

  13. Press CTRL+O, Enter, CTRL+X to write the changes to resolv.conf
  14. Run the following command to update the Pi-Hole blocklist
    # update pihole
    sudo pihole -g
  15. Open a web browser and navigate to http://localhost/admin
  16. Click Login
  17. Authenticate with the admin password set earlier

Special thanks to the developer of this installation script https://github.com/DesktopECHO/Pi-Hole-for-WSL1