# pihole-FTL failed to create listening socket for port 53

**URL:** <https://discourse.pi-hole.net/t/pihole-ftl-failed-to-create-listening-socket-for-port-53/17207>\
**Category:** Help\
**Created:** [February 12, 2019, 3:49pm UTC](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/t/pihole-ftl-failed-to-create-listening-socket-for-port-53/17207 "2019-02-12T15:49:40Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 2

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**Author:** ![jfb](https://discourse-cdn.pi-hole.net/user_avatar/discourse.pi-hole.net/jfb/32/4332_2.png) [@jfb](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/u/jfb)\
**Post date:** [February 12, 2019, 4:12pm UTC](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/t/pihole-ftl-failed-to-create-listening-socket-for-port-53/17207/2 "2019-02-12T16:12:19Z")

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In Pi-Hole V4.0 and later, dnsmasq is embedded in pihole-FTL, and dnsmasq no longer runs as a separate process. The debug log will show dnsmasq as either failed or inactive. Process pihole-FTL should be shown running on port 53.

> **[DNS resolver - Pi-hole documentation](https://docs.pi-hole.net/ftldns/dns-resolver/)**

Since dnsmasq is now embedded in pihole-FTL, existing dnsmasq configuration files will work as before, assuming they are compatible with dnsmasq V2.80. You should look on the stubby site for a guide which is more recent and works with Pi-Hole V4 and later.

You also have other options for encrypted DNS. There is a guide on the Pi-Hole documentation site for installing DNS over HTTPS with Cloudflared.

> **[Redirecting...](https://docs.pi-hole.net/guides/dns-over-https/)**

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