Written 27 Aug 2026. This is a how-to, not a product card. Buy links are not tagged yet.

Change the Pi-hole admin password

After the house ad block is up, change the admin password the installer printed. That password is not the leftover-box login.

The installer printed a password so you could open the dashboard once. Before you leave that password on a sticky note forever, set one you chose. The admin password unlocks the Pi-hole web dashboard. The leftover-box password is what SSH asks for. Those are different jobs. For the leftover-box login, see change the leftover-box login password.

Skip until Pi-hole is installed

If you never installed Pi-hole, stop. That is the first useful thing on the leftover box. If the admin page never opened, finish that first. This note assumes Pi-hole is already on the leftover box.

What this is

You are changing only the Pi-hole web login. Not SSH. Not the router. Not Samba. Not the Wi-Fi password. When you open the dashboard, this is the password the page asks for.

Change it from SSH

SSH from the couch the way you already do. Then run the official Pi-hole command:

pihole setpassword

It asks for a new password twice. Nothing shows as you type. That is normal. Pick a password you chose, not the one the installer printed. Older guides show pihole -a -p. On current Pi-hole for Debian and Ubuntu leftover boxes, pihole setpassword is the command the docs list.

Confirm

Open the admin page in a browser: http://pi.hole/admin, or the leftover-box address plus /admin. Log in with the new password. If it fails, you still have SSH. Run pihole setpassword again and try once more.

What next

If the house is not pointed at the leftover box yet, do that in point the house at the leftover-box ad block. If ads came back later, check that Pi-hole is still answering. The leftover-box login password is a different note: change the leftover-box login password. Skip Unbound. Skip buying a Raspberry Pi.

Skip

Skip if Pi-hole is not installed. That is the first useful thing on the leftover box.
Skip changing the router password here.
Skip opening the admin page to the internet.
Skip a mesh kit.
Skip Unbound on day one.

Sources

Pi-hole: the pihole command (setpassword). Official pages only. For install, see the first useful thing on the leftover box. For router DNS, see point the house at the leftover-box ad block. For the leftover-box login, see change the leftover-box login password. If ads come back later, see when ads come back, check the leftover-box ad block.

Also on this topic

The first useful thing on the leftover boxPut a house-wide ad block on the leftover box. The rest of the house keeps using the internet as usual. You do not need a Raspberry Pi. Point the house at the leftover-box ad blockAfter Pi-hole is installed, tell the house router to ask the leftover box for names. Phones and laptops need no app. Sites still load. A lot of ads do not. When ads come back, check the leftover-box ad blockThe leftover box is awake, but banners are back. Check that Pi-hole is still answering before you buy a mesh kit or blame the router. Change the leftover-box login passwordOnce SSH from the couch works, set a password you chose. Do this before you leave the install password sitting around.