AdGuard in OpenWrt

Installing AdGuard in old router

AdGuard in OpenWRT

Dedicated old OpenWRT as ad blocker

The idea is to repurpose an old device able to run OpenWRT as dedicated AdGuard appliance, for this purpose we need to:

  1. install OpenWRT in the device
  2. configure the network components such as:
  • configure the device as “dumb AP”
  • disable wireless if needed
  • uninstall dnsmasq
  1. install AdGuard
  2. configure AdGuard

As I have installed OpenWRT in an old laptop I use for testing purposes, I’m jumping straight to uninstalling dnsmasq

Uninstalling dnsmasq

This is required assuming the device is not the primary dns or dhcp server in the network. Since AdGuard will take the role of dns server.

There are ways to remove each service individually, however I prefer to remove dnsmasq completely

/etc/init.d/dnsmasq stop
opkg remove dnsmasq

If you prefer to -for some reason- keep dnsmasq and instead disable each server independently, see following links

  • (Disable DHCP Server)[https://openwrt.org/docs/guide-user/network/wifi/dumbap#step_3disable_dhcp_server]

  • (Disable DHCPv6 Server)[https://openwrt.org/docs/guide-user/network/wifi/dumbap#step_4disable_dhcpv6_server]

Install AdGuard

opkg update
opkg install adguardhome

Install curl either via the LuCi web interface or using opkg example:

opkg install curl

curl -s -S -L https://raw.githubusercontent.com/AdguardTeam/AdGuardHome/master/scripts/install.sh | sh -s -- -v

/opt/AdGuardHome/AdGuardHome -s start

Static ip

example of how /etc/config/network should look like (use your own values)

config interface 'lan'
        option type 'bridge'
        option ifname 'eth0.1 eth1'
        option proto 'static'
        option ipaddr '192.168.0.2'
        option netmask '255.255.255.0'
        option gateway '192.168.0.1'
        list dns '192.168.0.100'

Learn more:

  • (Dnsmasq DHCP server)[https://openwrt.org/docs/guide-user/base-system/dhcp.dnsmasq]
  • AdGuard Home
  • DNS and DHCP
  • (Proper way to disable DHCP and DNS servers completely)[https://forum.openwrt.org/t/proper-way-to-disable-dhcp-and-dns-servers-completely/19608/13]