# Does "Never forward non-FQDN queries" do anything?

**URL:** <https://discourse.pi-hole.net/t/does-never-forward-non-fqdn-queries-do-anything/85251>\
**Category:** Help\
**Created:** [March 3, 2026, 6:58am UTC](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/t/does-never-forward-non-fqdn-queries-do-anything/85251 "2026-03-03T06:58:13Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Clockwerks](https://discourse-cdn.pi-hole.net/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/f475e1/32.png) [@Clockwerks](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/u/Clockwerks)\
**Post date:** [March 3, 2026, 6:58am UTC](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/t/does-never-forward-non-fqdn-queries-do-anything/85251/1 "2026-03-03T06:58:13Z")

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I have Pihole running in an LXC in Proxmox 9.1.6 that was created using the Proxmox VE Helper Script for Pi-hole.

My network is behind a Verizon router model XCI55AX, that will not allow me to change the DNS settings handed out by DHCP. So far I have not figured out a way to get Pi-hole working for my whole network, only on systems where I can manually configure the DNS. I’ve tried replacing the DHCP/DNS functions on the router with those supplied by Pi-hole but when I do that the damn router throws a tantrum and stops working. I am very frustrated about that but it’s not actually why I am posting.

What I am posting about is that I cannot figure out how to correctly configure Pi-hole to forward non-FQDN lookups to the Verizon router. I have everything else working, even reverse-lookups are functioning. But not unqualified hostnames. Changing the setting of “Never forward non-FQDN queries” does not seem to make any difference at all.

What I am expecting it to do is append the local domain name (which I have configured in the GUI) onto that hostname then resolve it but instead Pi-hole is refusing. My token is below if someone would be kind enough to take a look.

[https://tricorder.pi-hole.net/Q3S93ctM/](https://tricorder.pi-hole.net/Q3S93ctM/)

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**Author:** ![Bucking\_Horn](https://discourse-cdn.pi-hole.net/user_avatar/discourse.pi-hole.net/bucking_horn/32/18719_2.png) [@Bucking\_Horn](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/u/Bucking_Horn)\
**Post date:** [March 3, 2026, 8:43am UTC](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/t/does-never-forward-non-fqdn-queries-do-anything/85251/2 "2026-03-03T08:43:32Z")

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Ticking **Never forward non-FQDN queries** would do the opposite of what you want to achieve: It would prevent any request for a non-dot domain to be forwarded. That setting needs to be unticked.

For such non-dot requests for local hostnames to be resolved successfully, you'd need matching DNS entries to be defined somewhere, either by Pi-hole or by some other DNS server in your network.

If another DNS server holds those records, you'd have to configure Pi-hole's _Conditional Forwarding_ to that DNS server.

Your debug log indicates you've correctly configured _Conditional Forwarding_ to your router at `10.11.12.1`:

```auto
     revServers = [
       "true,10.11.12.0/24,10.11.12.1#53,your.domain"
     ] ### CHANGED, default = []

```

However, you've also added a custom _`dnsmasq`_ configuration, which would conflict with Pi-hole's _Conditional Forwarding_:

```auto
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 63 Mar 2 20:55 /etc/dnsmasq.d/99-your.domain.conf
   server=/your.domain/#
   address=(…)

```

That first line configures Pi-hole to use its standard servers for `your.domain`, i.e. its configured upstreams.

You should remove that custom configuration.

In addition, you want to verify that your router is correctly answering local DNS requests, e.g. by requesting resolution for a local hostname directly from your router:

```auto
nslookup <hostname> 10.11.12.1

```

If that does return NXDOMAIN, it would demonstrate that your router doesn't keep DNS records for local hostnames, so configuring _Conditional Forwarding_ would be futile.  
Instead, you'd have to create [Local DNS Records](http://pi.hole/admin/settings/dnsrecords) in Pi-hole.

* * *

> **And some remarks on your router's/network's IPv6 DNS configuration (click for details)**
>
> > [@Clockwerks](#):
> >
> > I’ve tried replacing the DHCP/DNS functions on the router with those supplied by Pi-hole but when I do that the damn router throws a tantrum and stops working. I am very frustrated about that but it’s not actually why I am posting.
> 
> Your debug log indicates that your router advertises its own IPv6 GUA as DNS server. This would have IPv6 clients to by-pass Pi-hole via your router.
> 
> You'd have to find a way to configure your router to stop advertising its own IPv6 as DNS server, or to advertise your Pi-hole host machine's IPv6.
> 
> You'd have to consult your router's documentation sources on further details for its IPv6 configuration options.
> 
> If your router doesn't support configuring IPv6 DNS, you could consider disabling IPv6 altogether, provided you'd not depend on IPv6 for reasons.
> 
> If your router doesn't support that either, your IPv6-capable clients will always be able to bypass Pi-hole via IPv6.  
> You could then try to mitigate this, by setting Pi-hole as the only upstream of your router, provided your router supports it.  
> But note that you won't be able to attribute DNS requests to original individual IPv6 clients in such a configuration.
> 
> In addition, there is another router advertising a different local search domain:
> 
> ```auto
> *** [DIAGNOSING]: Discovering active DHCP servers (takes 6 seconds)
> Scanning all your interfaces for DHCP servers and IPv6 routers
> Timeout: 6 seconds
>    
> * Received 56 bytes from fe80::<redacted> @ eth0
> Hop limit: 64
> Stateful address conf.: Yes
> Stateful other conf.: Yes
> (…)
> DNS search list: <redacted>.org 
> DNS search list lifetime: 1800 sec
> MTU: 1500 bytes (valid)
> 
> ```
> 
> If that's by intention, you may want to consider also configuring _Conditional Forwarding_ for that domain.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Clockwerks](https://discourse-cdn.pi-hole.net/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/f475e1/32.png) [@Clockwerks](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/u/Clockwerks)\
**Post date:** [March 3, 2026, 3:55pm UTC](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/t/does-never-forward-non-fqdn-queries-do-anything/85251/3 "2026-03-03T15:55:11Z")

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Got it, I’ve un-ticked **Never forward non-FQDN queries** and yes, that revServers entries makes reverse lookup work. And I figured out that the _`dnsmasq`_ configuration was a mistake and removed it. Yes, the ISP router that is performing DHCP does correctly answer local DNS requests. Everything seems to be working now that I noticed that the Group Management section Client list had no members configured. So I entered my sub-net as the default client and suddenly it all worked.

About the “remarks on your router’s/network’s IPv6 DNS configuration”… It’s a Verizon router and they won’t let me touch the DNS server addresses either for the router or for the DHCP packets it sends out. I’ll take a look at what that other DHCP server is because there definitely should not be a third.

Thank you for your help. I think my big mistake was not figuring out that I needed to add my local network as a client. Somehow I missed that in the “Configuring Pi-hole” documentation I read.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Clockwerks](https://discourse-cdn.pi-hole.net/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/f475e1/32.png) [@Clockwerks](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/u/Clockwerks)\
**Post date:** [March 3, 2026, 4:02pm UTC](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/t/does-never-forward-non-fqdn-queries-do-anything/85251/4 "2026-03-03T16:02:48Z")

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BTW, have you any advice about how to handle the fact that the Verizon router (model ARC-XCI55AX) won’t let me change that it advertises itself as the DNS server in the DHCP packets? I’ve tried turning off the DHCP and using Pi-hole to do it instead but when I did that it seemed like it threw a tantrum and stopped working.

I’m curious if you know of anyone that has gotten Pi-hole working with that model of router before. Did they have to manually configure the DNS settings for all their devices?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![rdwebdesign](https://discourse-cdn.pi-hole.net/user_avatar/discourse.pi-hole.net/rdwebdesign/32/51363_2.png) [@rdwebdesign](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/u/rdwebdesign)\
**Post date:** [March 3, 2026, 4:13pm UTC](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/t/does-never-forward-non-fqdn-queries-do-anything/85251/5 "2026-03-03T16:13:18Z")

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> [@Clockwerks](#):
>
> I’ve tried turning off the DHCP and using Pi-hole to do it instead but when I did that it seemed like it threw a tantrum and stopped working.

Did you remember to set a Static IP before disabling the router DHCP server?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Clockwerks](https://discourse-cdn.pi-hole.net/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/f475e1/32.png) [@Clockwerks](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/u/Clockwerks)\
**Post date:** [March 3, 2026, 4:37pm UTC](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/t/does-never-forward-non-fqdn-queries-do-anything/85251/6 "2026-03-03T16:37:33Z")

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For the system I was working from? I’m not actually sure what you mean. A Static IP for which machine(s)?

I had a static IP address set up for the Pi-hole server and I had it serving dynamic and static/served addresses as appropriate for all the other devices on the network when I shut off the router DHCP. But when I did that it took the WiFi network down.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![system](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/uploads/default/original/3X/7/c/7c8792f649eeb921c5d2b4c41564ffa873d9a2b8.png) [@system](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/u/system)\
**Post date:** [March 24, 2026, 4:38pm UTC](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/t/does-never-forward-non-fqdn-queries-do-anything/85251/7 "2026-03-24T16:38:30Z")

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