How to set up Adguard Home on Linux

Adguard Home is a network-wide advertisement filtering system, much like Pi-Hole, which we’ve covered on AddictiveTips in the past. The main selling point for Adguard Home is that it doesn’t require using a client-side app (like the Adguard app you can install on Windows, Mac, etc.)

Adguard Home is an excellent choice for those that want something like Pi-Hole but want a more robust set of tools. In this guide, we’ll go over how to install Adguard Home on Linux and how to configure it too. 

Note: Adguard Home does not require a Raspberry Pi to use. However, you will need a Linux PC capable of staying on at all times, such as a home server or desktop PC.

Installing Adguard Home on Linux

The Adguard Home software can be installed in a few ways. These ways are a Snap package, a standalone shell script, the source code, and an Arch Linux AUR package. This section of the guide will show you how to install the software in all three methods.

To start the installation of Adguard Home on your Linux system, launch a terminal window. Then, with the terminal window open, follow the command-line installation instructions below that correspond with the installation type you prefer.

Snap package installation

The Snap installation of Adguard Home on Linux should be your go-to method. The reason? Adguard Home is a server application and needs to be configured to function correctly. The Snap version of Adguard Home is already compiled, pre-configured, and takes out all headaches.

To use the Snap package installation of Adguard Home on your Linux PC, you’ll need to set up the Snapd runtime. This runtime is easy to set up, and you can follow the instructions here to set it up before you proceed.

After setting up the Snapd runtime on your computer, run the following snap install command below to set up Adguard Home.

sudo snap install adguard-home

Shell script installation

The Shell script installation is a more accessible, automatic way of getting Adguard Home working on Linux. It is not as seamless or as fast as the Snap installation, but it works. To install it, run the command below. 

Note: you must have the Curl package installed on your PC. For more information, click here.

curl -sSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/AdguardTeam/AdGuardHome/master/scripts/install.sh | sh

Arch Linux AUR installation

If you’re an Arch Linux user and you cannot run Snap packages (for whatever reason), you’ll be happy to know that there’s an AUR package for Adguard Home. To install the app, start by installing the Trizen AUR helper tool.

sudo pacman -S git base-devel

git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/trizen.git

cd trizen

makepkg -sri

Next, install the Adguard Home package via the trizen -S command.

adguardhome

Startup Adguard Home with systemctl.

sudo systemctl enable AdGuardHome.service

sudo systemctl start AdGuardHome.service

Set up Adguard Home 

To set up Adguard Home, launch a web browser and enter the IP address below in a web browser. Keep in mind, the IP address below is an example. Replace the URL example with the IP address from the server or desktop PC that is hosting Adguard Home.

Note: Do you need help finding your Linux server’s IP address? Click here for help!

http://server-ip-address:3000/install.html

After opening the Adguard Home setup wizard in a browser, follow the step-by-step instructions down below to get the service up and running.

Step 1: Read the “Welcome to Adguard Home” start page in the browser. Be sure also to read the message that it has under the “Welcome” title. 

When you’ve finished reading the welcome message on the Adguard Home page, click on the “Get Started” button to continue with the installation tool.

Step 2: On the next page, you will see “Admin Web Interface” and “DNS server.” Under “Admin Web Interface, find the “Listen interface” menu, and change it to your default network device. Do not set it to “lo.”

Next, find “DNS server” and click on the “Listen interface” drop-down menu beneath it. Set it to your default network device for the server. Once again, do not set it to “lo.”

Step 3: Find the “Set a stat IP address” button at the bottom of page 2 and click on it to tell Adguard Home to set the server running the software with a static IP address.

Step 4: On page 3, Adguard Home will prompt you to configure a user account for the web interface. Using the UI, create an admin account with a secure password, and press “Next.”

Step 5: On the 4th page, the Adguard Home installer will tell you to configure your networked devices to use your new Adguard Home DNS service. Copy the IP address at the top of the page, and follow our guide on how to change DNS addresses on Linux to get it set up.

Note: Be sure to follow the on-screen instructions in the Adguard Home installer if you wish to set up DNS on other non-Linux devices such as smartphones, Windows, Mac, etc.

When all devices are set up to use Adguard Home DNS, click “Next.”

Step 6: On page 5, you will see a screen that says, “Open Dashboard.” Click it to access your Adguard Home control page.

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