# Hostnames not being resolved

**URL:** <https://discourse.pi-hole.net/t/hostnames-not-being-resolved/87580>\
**Category:** Help\
**Created:** [September 10, 2026, 4:38pm UTC](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/t/hostnames-not-being-resolved/87580 "2026-09-10T16:38:27Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Sharedbits](https://discourse-cdn.pi-hole.net/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/839c29/32.png) [@Sharedbits](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/u/Sharedbits)\
**Post date:** [September 10, 2026, 4:38pm UTC](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/t/hostnames-not-being-resolved/87580/1 "2026-09-10T16:38:27Z")

</div>

## Expected Behaviour:

I expected to see host name resolution after applying the configuration proposed on this help page: [Fritz!Box (EN) - Pi-hole documentation](https://docs.pi-hole.net/routers/fritzbox/) .

 ![image](https://discourse-cdn.pi-hole.net/uploads/default/original/3X/2/6/267b90f30c29115aa377fcafb1d77d29d90e8f1d.jpeg)

## Actual Behaviour:

Hostnames are not resolved

 ![image](https://discourse-cdn.pi-hole.net/uploads/default/original/3X/e/d/eda490534c0a919071ccc12245baf0e68ebacffe.png)

## Debug Token:

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

> **[Fritz!Box (EN) - Pi-hole documentation](https://docs.pi-hole.net/routers/fritzbox/)**

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![nite\_route](https://discourse-cdn.pi-hole.net/user_avatar/discourse.pi-hole.net/nite_route/32/56186_2.png) [@nite\_route](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/u/nite_route)\
**Post date:** [September 10, 2026, 6:18pm UTC](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/t/hostnames-not-being-resolved/87580/2 "2026-09-10T18:18:34Z")

</div>

for fritz + pihole hostnames, conditional forwarding only helps if two things match what the fritz is actually using.

check:

- Settings -\> DNS -\> Conditional forwarding: router IP is the fritz LAN IP, and the local domain name is exactly what the fritz shows under Home Network -\> Network -\> Network Settings (often `fritz.box`, sometimes something custom)
- clients are really using the pihole as DNS (not the fritz still answering first)
- under DNS, reverse server for the LAN range is pointed at the fritz too if you care about PTR names

after changing that, flush the pihole cache (`pihole restartdns` or restart FTL) and recheck a client with `nslookup some-hostname`. if the debug token still shows CF off or the wrong domain, that is usually why the Network table stays on IPs only.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Sharedbits](https://discourse-cdn.pi-hole.net/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/839c29/32.png) [@Sharedbits](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/u/Sharedbits)\
**Post date:** [September 10, 2026, 8:56pm UTC](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/t/hostnames-not-being-resolved/87580/3 "2026-09-10T20:56:34Z")

</div>

Thank you for your contribution. Unfortunately, that did not fix the issue.

The Fritz Box has been configured as follows:

- Internet\>Account Information\>DNS Server: DNSv4 Server is 192.168.1.7 both for preferred and alternative DNSv4 server
- Home Network\>Network\>Network Settings\>Advanced Network Settings\>IPv4: in DHCP section, local DNS server is 192.168.1.7
- I tried both `pihole networkflush` and `pihole reloaddns` commands, below is the result for the `nslookup` command:

```auto
sharedbits@pihole:~ $ nslookup my_hostname
Server: 192.168.1.7
Address:	192.168.1.7#53

Non-authoritative answer:
Name:	my_hostname.fritz.box
Address: 192.168.1.110
Name:	my_hostname.fritz.box
Address: fdfa:5b8a:eee9:0:7139:aa85:4ad3:388c
Name:	my_hostname.fritz.box
Address: fdfa:5b8a:eee9:0:aedf:175b:c99a:935a

```

Debug token states:

`revServers = [`  
` "true,192.168.1.0/24,192.168.1.254,fritz.box"`  
`] ### CHANGED, default = []`  
`[dns.domain]`  
` name = "lan"`  
` local = true`

I believe this is correct as well.

Do you have any additional idea?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![nite\_route](https://discourse-cdn.pi-hole.net/user_avatar/discourse.pi-hole.net/nite_route/32/56186_2.png) [@nite\_route](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/u/nite_route)\
**Post date:** [September 11, 2026, 12:19am UTC](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/t/hostnames-not-being-resolved/87580/4 "2026-09-11T00:19:52Z")

</div>

ah wait looking at that nslookup you posted, hostname resolution is actually working. my\_hostname.fritz.box is answering from 192.168.1.7.

what usually looks "broken" after that is the Network overview still showing bare IPs. that table is picky about the local domain name matching.

you've got revServers on fritz.box, but dns.domain.name is still "lan". try setting dns.domain.name to fritz.box (same string as the CF domain), restart FTL, then refresh Network. for me the Overview only starts showing names once those two match.

if you mainly care about nslookup/ping by name, you're already good. the Network page is the laggy part.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![nero355](https://discourse-cdn.pi-hole.net/user_avatar/discourse.pi-hole.net/nero355/32/54774_2.png) [@nero355](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/u/nero355)\
**Post date:** [September 15, 2026, 3:10pm UTC](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/t/hostnames-not-being-resolved/87580/5 "2026-09-15T15:10:52Z")

</div>

Maybe useful to know :

Sometimes it takes a short period for the hostnames to appear correctly!

I have experienced this the last time I was adding a lot of hostnames at the same time in the Local DNS Records settings 🙂

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Sharedbits](https://discourse-cdn.pi-hole.net/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/839c29/32.png) [@Sharedbits](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/u/Sharedbits)\
**Post date:** [September 27, 2026, 10:30am UTC](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/t/hostnames-not-being-resolved/87580/7 "2026-09-27T10:30:34Z")

</div>

Thank you @nero355 and @nite_route for the advice!

I got frustrated and in parallel of the suggestion to change the `dns.domain.name` from `lan` to `fritz.box`, I also started using the Pi-hole as a DHCP server which, obviously, instantly solved the issue. However, I guess I did not properly configure it since at lease renewal, none of my devices were able to reach the Internet anymore. My guess is that I didn't properly advertised the DNS server. Frustrated again, I disabled it and to my surprise the names remained in place!

So I guess issue fixed, but I can't tell whether it was because of the waiting of the domain name change.