# Why not use the root servers directly for Pi-hole?

**URL:** <https://discourse.pi-hole.net/t/why-not-use-the-root-servers-directly-for-pi-hole/10021>\
**Category:** General\
**Created:** [May 30, 2018, 7:03am UTC](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/t/why-not-use-the-root-servers-directly-for-pi-hole/10021 "2018-05-30T07:03:34Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 19

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![RamSet](https://discourse-cdn.pi-hole.net/user_avatar/discourse.pi-hole.net/ramset/32/3497_2.png) [@RamSet](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/u/RamSet)\
**Post date:** [May 31, 2018, 8:26pm UTC](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/t/why-not-use-the-root-servers-directly-for-pi-hole/10021/19 "2018-05-31T20:26:41Z")

</div>

You can't use the root servers as recursive DNS servers:

 ![image](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/uploads/default/original/2X/9/97f8ae5ade2ee0506f2118425538bd95327a63ad.png)

**;; WARNING: recursion requested but not available**

The root servers, like most authoritative servers, are configured to not do recursive resolution, which is what your ISP’s DNS servers (and other public ones) are set up for.

---

_[View the full topic](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/t/why-not-use-the-root-servers-directly-for-pi-hole/10021)._