Written 4 Sep 2026. This is a how-to, not a product card.

Save a Pi-hole backup before you change things

Export Pi-hole settings with Teleporter so a reinstall, a bad list, or a wiped disk does not erase your allow list and local DNS. You don't need a new Raspberry Pi.

Haven't installed the house ad block yet? Start with the first useful thing. This note is only for when Pi-hole already answers DNS and you want a settings zip you can put back later. It is not a copy of the house folder. That second copy is a backup of the house folder.

Skip until Pi-hole already works

If ads never dropped, fix install and router DNS first. Brand menus: point common home routers at Pi-hole. If ads came back after a good week, start with when ads come back. Don't export a broken setup and call that a plan.

What this is

Pi-hole's Teleporter builds a small zip of settings: allow and deny lists, subscribed block lists, local DNS names, and related admin choices. It is the official way to move those choices to a fresh install or undo a bad edit. It is not a full disk image. It is not the house photo share. Keep the zip on your laptop, or in the house folder once that share exists.

Open Teleporter

On a laptop on the house network, open the admin page: http://pi.hole/admin, or the computer's address plus /admin. Log in with the admin password you set (not the Linux SSH password). Forgot it? Change it from SSH: change the printed Pi-hole admin password.

In the left menu, open Settings, then the Teleporter tab. Menu labels can shift a little by Pi-hole version. You want the page that offers Backup and Restore (Export and Import on some builds).

Export (save the zip)

Click Backup or Export. Your browser downloads a zip. Name it with today's date if the download does not already. Put the file somewhere you will find again: the laptop Downloads folder is fine for a first save. Better: copy it into the house share once that folder works, so the settings zip sits with the other house files.

Do this before a big change: before pihole -up if you are nervous, before you paste a huge third-party list, before you reinstall the OS, before you wipe a Marketplace disk. A quiet weekly export after keep Pi-hole updated is enough for most houses.

Import (put settings back)

Only after a fresh Pi-hole install answers DNS again, or when you mean to overwrite the current settings on purpose. Open the same Teleporter page. Choose the zip. Click Restore or Import. Leave the default checkboxes unless you know you want to skip one group. Wait for the page to finish. Then:

pihole status

From SSH, or reload the dashboard. Ads should still drop on a phone that uses house DNS. If one site you need is broken after the restore, that is when a site won't load after Pi-hole, not a reason to throw the zip away.

What this is not

This is not a reason to buy a second Pi or a “backup appliance.” It is not copying all of /etc/pihole by hand for a first-timer. It is not opening the admin page past the house network. It is not a substitute for a backup of the house folder. Photos and documents live in the share. Teleporter only saves Pi-hole's own settings.

What next

Keep the weekly software habit: keep Pi-hole updated. Keep the OS habit too: keep the computer updated. If ads come back later, start with when ads come back. After a reinstall of the whole PC, put the house share back with a file share, then restore this zip so allow lists return with it.

Skip

• Skip buying a new Raspberry Pi to “have a backup Pi-hole.”
• Skip opening Teleporter past the house network.
• Skip treating the zip as a full computer backup.
• Skip importing an old zip onto a working install just to see what happens.
• Skip this until Pi-hole already blocks ads for the house.