I have installed Pi-Hole on a fresh install of Windows 10, using Docker. I think it installed fine with no problems, but now I don't know what I need to do next? Online guides are confusing. I have NO experience whatsoever with network setup, I have always had someone do this for me. This is my first time to try on my own. I can find some menus but generally have messed up internet settings by poking at them so I need a bit of hand holding.
Expected Behaviour:
Completed setup of Pi-Hole and not missing any steps?
Web interface loads fine.
I have created an ubuntu user and password inside the Docker app.
Actual Behaviour:
I have no idea if it's done installing.
Does the program run itself every time I start the computer?
Do I need to run Docker to access anything else in the settings?
What is the difference between running it on Windows or on a rasberry mini computer? (barely understand those)
Do I need to add any lists like an adblocker does?
Do I need to do anything to prevent Windows from sending my data to microsoft? (Is this even anything Pi-Hole can help with or just adblocking?)
Thank you in advance, I have spent 3 hours looking for answers myself but just end up even more confused.
Do I need to change my IP like some guides say?
There are many questions. I will try to answer some of them:
If you installed Pi-hole in a docker container in Windows, you need to start Docker Desktop and start the Pi-hole container to use it.
This depends on how you configured Docker Desktop for Windows.
If Docker Desktop is set to automatically start with Windows and the container is set to always restart, Pi-hole container will start automatically.
The difference is big.
Pi-hole cannot be executed directly on Windows (you will need docker).
In Windows (and also in MacOS) docker runs inside a special Virtual Machine.
This VM has it's own network configuration and it needs to translate the internal addresses to communicate with the host OS (Windows). This sometimes causes issues with host and macvlan network modes.
In Linux, you can run Pi-hole inside a docker container or directly on the Operating System.
For beginners, installing Pi-hole directly on Linux is usually easier.
Also, in Linux docker runs directly on the Operating System.
No, you don't need (Pi-hole installs one adlist by default), but you can add as many lists as you like.
Ok, thank you for explaining all of those, it's really helpful! I notice it doesn't block ads on reddit (which is the only site I've gone to yet) and it is currently running. So I must be doing something wrong. It has (0) queries blocked when I poke around.
I do have Linux Mint on another machine, which I am learning at the same time how to use, so I will start there first I guess. Maybe after that I'll try to just learn how to set up something for the whole network. I wish this stuff was taught in school!