Block ads, trackers, and malicious domains network-wide — without touching individual devices. This guide walks you through installing AdGuard Home and integrating it with a FortiGate firewall.

1. What is AdGuard Home?

 

AdGuard Home is a free, open-source network-wide DNS sinkhole. Unlike browser extensions, it filters traffic for every device on your network — phones, smart TVs, IoT devices — at the DNS level. It replaces your router or firewall’s default DNS server and blocks requests to known ad, tracker, and malware domains before a connection is even made.

AdGuard Home is different from the AdGuard browser extension. The Home version runs as a local DNS server on your infrastructure — no cloud dependency, full control over your data.


2. Downloading & Installing on Windows

 

i) Visit the GitHub releases page — go to github.com/AdguardTeam/AdGuardHome and scroll to the Releases section.
ii) Download the correct build — for 64-bit Windows, select AdGuardHome_windows_amd64.zip and extract it to a local folder.
iii) Note the .exe path — for example:
Path :- C:\Users\Administrator\Downloads\AdGuardHome_windows_amd64\AdGuardHome

iv) Open Command Prompt as Administrator — navigate to that folder using the cd command, then install the service:

To run the .exe file run command
AdGuardHome.exe -s install

After successful installation, the terminal will display a URL on port 3000 for initial setup.

3. Initial Web Setup (Port 3000)

Copy the URL from your terminal (something like http://localhost:3000) and open it in your browser. The AdGuard Home setup wizard will appear.

  • Select your network interface from the dropdown
  • AdGuard’s default web interface port is 80 — check if it’s already in use before proceeding
  • Set a username and password for the admin dashboard
  • Click Next to complete setup

To verify port 80 isn’t already occupied, run this in CMD:

netstat -ano | findstr :80

If it is already running and used by another service, you will see the port in output.

Here port 80 is not listening by any service, hence we are going to use it for ADGuard

Choose your Interfaces. In authentication add username and password for your ADGuard account.

Click next.

Open the ADGuard IP with port 80 in browser and authenticate with your username and password.

You will see the home page like this.

4. Configuring Windows Firewall Rules

AdGuard Home requires two ports to be open in Windows Firewall. If you can’t reach the web UI or DNS queries aren’t resolving, this is likely the cause.

Port Protocol Purpose
80 TCP Web interface (admin dashboard)
53 UDP DNS resolution service


To add a firewall rule for each port, follow these steps in Windows Firewall (Advanced Security):

1. Open Windows Defender Firewall with Advanced Security → click Inbound Rules → New Rule
2. Select Port as the rule type → click Next
3. Choose TCP or UDP depending on the port → enter the port number (80 or 53) → click Next
4. Select Allow the connection → click Next
5. Apply the rule to all profiles (Domain, Private, Public) 

Click next. Give the Name to your rule. Add description if you want.

Click on finish you will see the name of your rule in inbound rules.

5. Adding AdGuard as DNS in FortiGate

Once AdGuard Home is running and verified locally, point your FortiGate firewall to it as the primary DNS server so all network traffic benefits from filtering.

1 Log in to your FortiGate management interface
2 Navigate to Network → DNS
3 In the Primary DNS Server field, enter the IP address of the machine running AdGuard Home
4. Save the settings and verify that DNS logs start appearing in the AdGuard Home dashboard

After saving, open the AdGuard Home dashboard and watch the query log — you should start seeing DNS requests from your network flowing through within seconds.

Note :-

To avoid conflicts between ADGuard and Domain Controller DNS:

  1. Do not configure ADGuard on the Domain Controller if you want to use the DC’s DNS for Active Directory functions.
  2. If you prefer using ADGuard for DNS, disable the DC’s DNS service, but ensure ADGuard is properly configured to handle Active Directory DNS queries.
  1. Alternatively, use separate DNS servers: keep the DC DNS for AD-related traffic, and configure ADGuard for other internet traffic.

Configuration of settings : –

From settings you can configure General, DNS, Encryption, Client and DHCP settings

In DNS setting -> Upstream DNS server you can add server address or URLs of DNS provider.

Website for known DNS Providers :-

https://adguard-dns.io/kb/general/dns-providers/?clid=vIB5ya–uN9qie–U05OFQ–spoc1b&utm_campaign=dns_kb_providers&utm_medium=ui&utm_source=home

To configure settings follow this youtube video :-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pufAhTAPelM

nslookup command :-

The nslookup command is used to query DNS servers for domain name information, such as IP addresses or domain details. It helps troubleshoot DNS issues by checking the resolution of domain names to IP addresses.

If you are still facing an issue, feel free to Ask Doubts in the Comment Section Below and Don’t Forget to Follow us on 👍 Social Networks.

| Happy Splunking. 😉