Pihole and no web server

Troubleshooting
1

Hello, I have the latest version of DietPi installed on my Pi 3b. I installed PiHole. It seems to work because when I run a test, the ads don’t appear. However, I don’t have access to the web server: during installation, it never prompted me to install one. I checked, and none of the three normally offered servers were installed. So I installed the default “lighttpd.” A Debian web page appears, but not the PiHole one. I reinstalled, but nothing works; it won’t install a web server. I don’t know what to do now.

sudo systemctl status lighttpd ● lighttpd.service - Lighttpd Daemon
      Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/lighttpd.service; enabled; preset: enabled)
     Drop-In: /etc/systemd/system/lighttpd.service.d
              └─dietpi.conf      Active: active (running) since Thu 2025-09-04 08:37:09 CEST; 11min ago
     Process: 552 ExecStartPre=/usr/sbin/lighttpd -tt -f /etc/lighttpd/lighttpd.conf (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
    Main PID: 595 (lighttpd)       Tasks: 1 (limit: 749)         CPU: 1.911s      CGroup: /system.slice/lighttpd.service
              └─595 /usr/sbin/lighttpd -D -f /etc/lighttpd/lighttpd.conf
 Sep 04 08:37:07 DietPiChambreParents systemd[1]: Starting lighttpd.service - Lighttpd Daemon…
 Sep 04 08:37:09 DietPiChambreParents systemd[1]: Started lighttpd.service - Lighttpd Daemon.


\[ DIAGNOSING \]: Ports in use
udp:0.0.0.0:67 is in use by dhcpd
udp:0.0.0.0:68 is in use by dhclient
udp:0.0.0.0:48225 is in use by avahi-daemon
udp:0.0.0.0:3702 is in use by kodi.bin
udp:0.0.0.0:123 is in use by pihole-FTL
udp:127.0.0.1:5335 is in use by unbound
udp:0.0.0.0:5353 is in use by avahi-daemon\[✓\] 
udp:0.0.0.0:53 is in use by pihole-FTL
udp::60536 is in use by avahi-daemon
udp::123 is in use by pihole-FTL
udp::5353 is in use by avahi-daemon
udp::9777 is in use by kodi.bin\[✓\] 
udp:\*:53 is in use by pihole-FTL
tcp:127.0.0.1:5335 is in use by unbound\[✓\] 
tcp:0.0.0.0:8489 is in use by pihole-FTL
tcp:0.0.0.0:52222 is in use by dropbear\[✓\] 
tcp:0.0.0.0:8089 is in use by pihole-FTL
tcp:0.0.0.0:8080 is in use by kodi.bin
tcp:0.0.0.0:9090 is in use by kodi.bin\[✗\] 
tcp:0.0.0.0:80 is in use by lighttpd ()
tcp:0.0.0.0:8765 is in use by meyectl\[✓\] 
tcp:0.0.0.0:53 is in use by pihole-FTL
tcp:127.0.0.1:9081 is in use by motion
tcp:127.0.0.1:7999 is in use by motion
tcp:\[::\]:52222 is in use by dropbear
tcp:\[::\]:8080 is in use by kodi.bin
tcp:\[::\]:9090 is in use by kodi.bin\[✗\] 
tcp:\[::\]:80 is in use by lighttpd ()\[✓\] 
tcp:\[::\]:53 is in use by pihole-FTL

i found ! It was not the server port 80 !!!

2

I guess you missed the change happing with PiHole v6 Introducing Pi-hole v6 – Pi-hole

  1. Embedded Web Server and REST API

We’ve integrated a new REST API and embedded web server directly into the pihole-FTL binary. This eliminates the need for lighttpd and PHP, reducing the installation footprint and boosting performance. The new API also offers server-side pagination for the query log, ensuring a faster and more responsive interface

This is a change done by PiHole and has nothing to do with DietPi. Only thing we changed is the port of the embedded web server, to avoid conflicts with regular web severs like Apache or Nginx.

For access details see: DNS Servers Options - DietPi.com Docs

3

Yes, I just figured it out.
Now I’m trying to configure Pihole as a parental control for adult porn sites by trying to use Cloudflare’s DNS servers, but it doesn’t work in the “settings/dns” interface.

4

best to add some block list. But there you might better ask on the PiHole forum on how to configure it correctly.

5

yes !! perhaps adguard home is more interesting for my project !

6

I have around 2,5 million domains blocked by PiHole using 42 block lists. Client base blocking if needed and more :slight_smile: