How to set up AdGuard Home

Network-wide ad & tracker blocker. This guide covers how to access it, log in for the first time, configure the basics, and where its data lives so you can back it up.

1. What is AdGuard Home?

AdGuard Home is a network-wide ad-blocking DNS server. It blocks ads and trackers for every device on your network with a modern UI and built-in DNS-over-HTTPS, DNS-over-TLS, and DNSCrypt support.

2. Before you start

AdGuard Home is an alternative to Pi-hole. You should only enable ONE ad-blocker DNS at a time. Disable the privacy module if switching.

3. How to access it

Once it's enabled, AdGuard Home runs on your SparkBox at:

http://<your-NAS-IP>:3054

On first launch AdGuard shows a setup wizard. When it asks for the Admin Web Interface port, leave it as 3000 so SparkBox's launcher keeps working afterward. Then point your router's DNS to this server's IP.

4. First login

AdGuard runs a setup wizard on first launch — pick a username and password there, then use those to log in. No pre-set defaults.

If it instead asks for a password you didn't set, check Settings → Passwords in your SparkBox dashboard — every auto-generated credential is listed there.

5. Where your data lives

AdGuard Home's config and persistent data are stored on the SparkBox host under:

/opt/sparkbox/modules/adguard/config/

Backups via the SparkBox dashboard's Backup tile include this directory by default, so a single restore brings AdGuard Home back to its current state on a fresh install.

Next steps