Ads not blocked from Ubuntu VM after install. Perhaps router configuration?

Simply setting "bridged network" alone when configuring my VM isn't enough, as I'm unable to connect to the Internet when logged into the VM.

I'm going to call it a day and see if I can attack this from a fresh direction I haven't tried yet.

"fresh" literally ... destroy the VM, create new one and deploy fresh with this time the right IP address, subnet mask, gateway and DNS server :wink:

Ohw and when setup bridge mode, make sure the physical network adapter from the host PC is included/added.

I stumbled across this link just now.

VirtualBox: Configuring Static IPs for VMs

I hadn't considered using Oracle VM before. From the starting gate, it's looking very promising.

Doesnt really matter which hypervisor you choose.
Both the free VMware version and Virtualbox are type 2 hypervisors similar in performance.
If want to go all out, create a disk image of your current Windows setup, wipe it, install Xen or XenServer, a type 1 hypervisor, and create a VM out of the Windows disk image.
And oc create a separate VM for Pi-hole or install Docker in a VM (nested virtualisation) and run a Docker pi-hole instance.
:wink:

EDIT: Nice reading:

@deHakkelaar --

I created a fresh VMWare installation of Ubuntu Desktop, this time with the Virtual Machine Settings as "Network Adapter: Bridged (automatic)."

When I installed pi-hole allowing all the defaults, I noticed a key difference.

"Configure your devices to use the Pi-Hole as their DNS Server using:

  • IPv4: 192.168.1.7
  • IPv6: Not Configured"

This is different from the last time.

I tried to ssh from Windows and this time, I got a message of "No connection could be made because the target machine actively refused it." This is progress. Found the solution on a Stack Overflow post. I just needed to add another tool.

sudo apt-get install openssh-server

After that, I was able to ssh from my Windows host and read the status of pi-hole.

While I can see evidence of pi-hole blocking ads from when I browse within my VM, I see no evidence of any browsing detection from my host pc and other devices.

What's the best way to verify whether pi-hole is correctly configured now?

From the host PC, can you query Pi-hole now through DNS ?

nslookup marketspace.com 192.168.1.7

And when in network settings for the host PC, you configure DNS server manually "Use the following DNS server address" to point to the VM ip address, what is displayed after with below one ?

nslookup marketspace.com

And with the DNS server set manually, do you see the block page now on the host PC when browsing to below link ?
(you might need to flush cache "ipconfig /flushdns" and clear cache in your browser as well)

http://marketspace.com/

If all above are positive, chances are that if you switch DHCP server now from Netgear to Pi-hole, your pads and phones will work.
When you switch, disconnect & reconnect network on the phones and pads (or reboot) so they will receive new IP details.
On phones and pads, the block page should display as well with that link.

Ps. make sure no firewall is active on the host PC!