> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://itsfoss.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # How to Update Pi-hole Easily - URL: https://itsfoss.com/update-pi-hole/ - Published: 2022-12-21T09:58:00.000Z - Updated: 2023-01-02T03:38:42.000Z - Author: Pratham Patel - Tags: Raspberry Pi Pi-hole is one of the most effective ad-blockers available for you to use. You can install it on your router or a dedicated system and get an ad-free experience for all the devices connected through it. In an earlier article, I discussed the [steps for installing Pi-hole](https://itsfoss.com/setup-pi-hole/). But you must update it regularly to win the cat-and-mouse game between ad blockers and ad providers (Google, Facebook, etc). Another aspect is to patch a security vulnerability that might affect you negatively. The update method depends on the installation method. To recall, I discussed two methods: - **Method 1**: The existing Pi-hole installation was conducted using a script. The script was `curl -sSL https://install.pi-hole.net | bash` (or something similar). - **Method 2**: You installed Pi-hole using either Podman or Docker as a container. I will cover how to update Pi-hole with both of these methods. ## Method 1: Updating Pi-hole that was installed by a script You will not believe how easy this is. All you have to do is run the following command in your terminal! ``` pihole -up ``` Of course, you have to run this command on the device where you have installed Pi-hole. In other words, you may have to [SSH into your Raspberry Pi](https://itsfoss.com/ssh-into-raspberry/) or router to run the above-mentioned command. Doing so will update Pi-hole. Below is the output of running the `pihole -up` command on my computer: ``` $ pihole -up [✓] Update local cache of available packages [i] Existing PHP installation detected : PHP version 8.1.2-1ubuntu2.8 [✓] Checking for git [✓] Checking for iproute2 [✓] Checking for dialog [✓] Checking for ca-certificates [i] Checking for updates... [i] Pi-hole Core: up to date [i] Web Interface: up to date [i] FTL: up to date [✓] Everything is up to date! ``` 💡Though I haven’t encountered this myself, it is still a possibility that Pi-hole might require updates for **other* packages (like PHP) be installed. So try and run the update command that is applicable for your package manager on a regular basis. Keeping other packages up-to-date is **just as important* ;) ### Optional: Automate Pi-hole update with cron job This says that everything is up to date. But how can a normal person remember to keep everything up to date? Fret not! We can create a cron job to automatically update Pi-hole every day. But before we edit the cron job, let us find the absolute path of the `pihole` command. This can be done either using the `which` command or the `command` command. You only need to run either one of the two commands listed below: ``` command -v pihole which pihole ``` Executing either of the commands listed above will give you the absolute path to the `pihole` command. In my case, the absolute path for the `pihole` command is `/usr/local/bin/pihole`. Next, we will edit the [cron job](https://itsfoss.com/cron-job/). To edit cron jobs, type the following command in your terminal (please do **NOT** use `sudo`): ``` crontab -e ``` Doing so will open a file in either the `nano` editor or the `vim` editor. Next, **append* the following lines to the currently opened file: ``` 0 1 * * * /usr/local/bin/pihole -up ``` All you need to do now is to save and exit the editor. What we just did was that we made updating Pi-hole an automatic task. This will automatically run the `pihole up` command at 01:00 hours, every day. ## Method 2: Update Pi-hole that was installed via Podman or Docker If you installed Pi-hole using either Podman or Docker, all you can do initially is to pull the image. ⚠️ If you used a `docker-compose.yml` file to create your container, please have it handy because we need to delete the current container and create a new one. (No data or configuration will be changed if volumes are backed up properly or if bind mounts were used.) ### Step 1: Check if a newer image is available To check for updates, you can run either of the following commands based on what you use: ``` # command for Podman users podman pull docker.io/pihole/pihole:latest # command for Docker users docker pull docker.io/pihole/pihole:latest ``` If there is a newer version of the image, it will be fetched. If a newer version is not available, nothing extra will happen and you should try again later. ### Step 2: Stop and remove the container If a new image was downloaded, we can proceed further. Our next step should be to restart the container. To know which container to restart, we can check the output of the `docker ps` or `podman ps` command. ``` $ docker ps CONTAINER ID IMAGE COMMAND CREATED STATUS PORTS NAMES 73528d5ca4e8 docker.io/pihole/pihole:latest 14 hours ago Up 14 hours ago 53/tcp pihole-aditi ``` This shows that I have a container named `pihole-aditi`. Let’s stop and remove this container. This can be done with the following commands: ``` # command for Podman users podman stop pihole-aditi docker rm pihole-aditi # command for Docker users docker stop pihole-aditi docker rm pihole-aditi ``` ### Step 4: Create a new container I hope you took my warning seriously and have your `docker-compose.yml` file handy ;) Let’s re-create a new container. You can re-create your container using the following command: ``` docker-compose up -d ``` Please verify that the Pi-hole container is up and running using either the `podman ps` command or the `docker ps` command. ### Step 5: Remove old image(s) Once the Pi-hole container starts up with the updated image, we can remove the old image and free up disk, space. To remove **all the unused* images**, use the following command: ``` # command for Podman users podman image prune # command for Docker users docker image prune ``` Upon running the above command, **all the unused*** **images** will be removed. **Please take caution with this command.** Done! That was all that we needed to do to update our Pi-hole container. ## Conclusion This article goes over the two methods of updating Pi-hole based on the installation method initially used. I have also discussed setting up auto-updates for Pi-hole which was installed using the official script. There is no such option for the container method, unfortunately. Do let me know if you face any issues.