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AdGuard Home on Unraid

AdGuard Home is a network-wide DNS blocker for ads, trackers, and unwanted domains. Instead of installing an ad blocker on every device, your devices use AdGuard Home as their DNS server.

This guide shows the Unraid Community Apps setup I used, with AdGuard Home running from the official adguard/adguardhome Docker image.

What this guide assumes

  • You already have Docker enabled on Unraid.
  • You already have the Community Apps plugin installed.
  • Your Unraid server is on your main LAN.
  • You want AdGuard Home to have its own fixed LAN IP.

Why run AdGuard Home?

AdGuard Home is useful when you want simple network-wide filtering without managing browser extensions on every device.

It can help with:

  • Blocking ads and tracking domains at the DNS level
  • Seeing DNS queries from devices on your network
  • Creating blocklists, allowlists, and client-specific rules
  • Using custom upstream DNS providers

DNS is important

If AdGuard Home is down and your devices only use AdGuard Home for DNS, internet browsing may stop working until DNS is restored. Keep this in mind before making it your whole network's DNS server.

Screenshot references

Unraid AdGuard Home Community Apps template

AdGuard Home DNS blocklists page

Setup summary

This is the general setup shown in the Unraid template screenshot.

Setting Value used Notes
Repository adguard/adguardhome Official AdGuard Home Docker image
Network type Custom: br0 Gives the container its own LAN IP
Fixed IP address 192.168.1.199 Replace with an unused IP on your LAN
WebUI port 3000 Used to access the AdGuard Home web UI
DNS TCP port 53 Required for normal DNS
DNS UDP port 53 Required for normal DNS
Privileged Off Not needed for this basic setup
Tailscale Off Not used in this setup

Reserve the IP

After choosing a fixed IP for AdGuard Home, reserve that same IP in your router or DHCP server if possible. This helps avoid another device accidentally taking it later.

Install from Unraid Community Apps

  1. Open the Unraid web UI.
  2. Go to Apps.
  3. Search for AdGuard Home.
  4. Choose the template using the adguard/adguardhome repository.
  5. Click Install.

Unraid Community Apps is the easiest way to deploy this on Unraid because it gives you a form-based Docker template instead of making you write the full docker run command yourself.

Configure the Unraid template

Use the following settings as a starting point.

Basic settings

Field Recommended value
Name adguard
Repository adguard/adguardhome
Network Type Custom: br0
Fixed IP Address Your chosen AdGuard IP, for example 192.168.1.199
Console shell command Bash
Privileged Off

Appdata paths

The official Docker image uses two persistent directories: one for working data and one for configuration.

Host path Container path Purpose
/mnt/user/appdata/adguard/workingdir /opt/adguardhome/work Runtime data
/mnt/user/appdata/adguard/config /opt/adguardhome/conf Main configuration

Why the paths matter

These folders keep your AdGuard Home configuration persistent. If the container is updated or recreated, your settings should remain intact as long as these appdata paths are preserved.

Ports

For this basic LAN setup, the important ports are:

Port Protocol Purpose
3000 TCP Web interface
53 TCP DNS
53 UDP DNS

The official Docker documentation lists additional ports for DHCP, HTTPS, DNS-over-TLS, DNS-over-QUIC, and DNSCrypt. You do not need to expose those unless you plan to use those features.

First-time AdGuard Home setup

After the container starts, open:

http://192.168.1.199:3000

Replace 192.168.1.199 with your AdGuard Home IP.

During the first setup wizard:

  1. Click Get Started.
  2. Set the Admin Web Interface to listen on port 3000.
  3. Set the DNS Server to listen on port 53.
  4. Create your admin username and password.
  5. Finish the setup and sign in.

Do not forget the port

In this setup, the web UI is on port 3000, so use http://ADGUARD-IP:3000.

Configure upstream DNS

Go to:

Settings > DNS settings

AdGuard Home forwards allowed DNS queries to upstream DNS servers. You can use regular DNS, DNS-over-TLS, or DNS-over-HTTPS upstreams.

Example upstreams:

https://dns.adguard-dns.com/dns-query
https://dns.quad9.net/dns-query
https://cloudflare-dns.com/dns-query

You do not need to use all of these. Pick the provider you trust and keep the list simple.

Start simple

Start with one or two reliable upstream providers. More upstreams does not always mean better DNS performance.

Point your network to AdGuard Home

The easiest whole-network method is to set AdGuard Home as the DNS server in your router's DHCP settings.

On your router:

  1. Open your router admin page.
  2. Find the LAN, DHCP, or DNS settings.
  3. Set the DNS server handed out to clients as:
192.168.1.199
  1. Save the change.
  2. Renew DHCP on your devices, reconnect Wi-Fi, or reboot the devices.

Best place to set DNS

For most home networks, set AdGuard Home as the DNS server handed out by DHCP. This makes individual devices use AdGuard directly.

Avoid DNS loops

Be careful setting your router's own upstream DNS to AdGuard Home if AdGuard Home also depends on the router for DNS. For a basic setup, keep the router's WAN DNS pointed to a public resolver and hand out AdGuard Home through DHCP.

DNS blocklists

Go to:

Filters > DNS blocklists

The important thing is to avoid adding too many lists too quickly. More blocklists can increase false positives. The lists below works well for my needs, YMMV.

Blocklists shown in this setup

List Status
AdGuard DNS filter Enabled
AdAway Default Blocklist Disabled in screenshot
Dan Pollock's List Enabled
KADhosts Enabled
Fade Mind Enabled
firebog Enabled
disconnect.me simple ad Enabled
anudeep adservers Enabled
ad-wars Enabled
blocklist project ads Enabled
HaGeZi Pro Enabled
HaGeZi Pro++ Enabled

Recommended approach

Start with the default AdGuard DNS filter and one larger trusted list, such as HaGeZi Pro. Add more lists only if you know what they are doing or you are trying to block something specific.

To update lists manually:

  1. Go to Filters > DNS blocklists.
  2. Click Check for updates.

Test that it works

From a Windows PC, open PowerShell and run:

Resolve-DnsName google.com -Server 192.168.1.199
Resolve-DnsName doubleclick.net -Server 192.168.1.199

You can also use nslookup:

nslookup google.com 192.168.1.199
nslookup doubleclick.net 192.168.1.199

Then check:

Query Log

You should see DNS requests showing up in AdGuard Home.

Blocked results may vary

Depending on your AdGuard Home settings, blocked domains may return 0.0.0.0, NXDOMAIN, or another blocking response.

Common troubleshooting

The web UI does not load

Check:

  • The container is running in Unraid.
  • You are using the correct IP and port: http://192.168.1.199:3000. (replace with your IP)
  • Try accessing via http://192.168.1.199/login.html (replace with your IP)
  • The container is on Custom: br0.
  • The fixed IP is not already used by another device.

Devices are not being filtered

Check:

  • Your router DHCP settings are handing out AdGuard Home as DNS.
  • The client received the new DNS server after reconnecting or renewing DHCP.
  • The device is not using browser-based private DNS or DNS-over-HTTPS.
  • The query appears in Query Log.

Only the router shows in the query log

This usually means your clients are sending DNS to the router, and the router is forwarding DNS to AdGuard Home.

If you want to see each client separately, configure DHCP to hand out the AdGuard Home IP directly to clients.

Some apps or websites break

Go to:

Query Log

Find the blocked domain and allow it if needed.

You can allowlist a domain from the query log or by going to:

Filters > DNS allowlists

Do not disable everything immediately

If a site breaks, allowlist only the domain that is causing the issue. Disabling all filtering defeats the purpose of running AdGuard Home.

Backups

Make sure your normal Unraid appdata backup includes:

/mnt/user/appdata/adguard/workingdir
/mnt/user/appdata/adguard/config

These folders contain the data and configuration that make your AdGuard Home install recoverable.

Updating AdGuard Home

In Unraid:

  1. Go to Docker.
  2. Click Check for Updates.
  3. Update the AdGuard Home container if an update is available.

This follows the same idea as the official Docker update process: pull the newer image and recreate the container while keeping the persistent appdata paths.

Official resources