Pi-Hole-for-WSL1 vs kWSL

Pi-Hole-for-WSL1

Ad-blocking DNS server for Windows • Unbound pre-configured • Deployment ready in minutes • Does not require hypervisor/docker (by DesktopECHO)

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kWSL

KDE Neon 6.0 installer for WSL1 or WSL2. (by DesktopECHO)

kde-desktop Wsl Ubuntu wsl1 Xrdp kde-neon Windows

Source Code

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Pi-Hole-for-WSL1		kWSL
	Project
48	Mentions	7
321	Stars	145
-	Growth	-
3.4	Activity	6.6
about 1 month ago	Latest Commit	6 days ago
Batchfile	Language	Batchfile
-	License	-

The number of mentions indicates the total number of mentions that we've tracked plus the number of user suggested alternatives.
Stars - the number of stars that a project has on GitHub. Growth - month over month growth in stars.
Activity is a relative number indicating how actively a project is being developed. Recent commits have higher weight than older ones.
For example, an activity of 9.0 indicates that a project is amongst the top 10% of the most actively developed projects that we are tracking.

Pi-Hole-for-WSL1

Posts with mentions or reviews of Pi-Hole-for-WSL1. We have used some of these posts to build our list of alternatives and similar projects. The last one was on 2023-01-02.

If I use a VPN on the device hosting Pi-hole, does Pi-hole use the VPN?
1 project | /r/pihole | 8 Jul 2023

I have a NAS running Windows hosting Pi-hole thanks to this. I use a VPN on that NAS and it connects to a server in another country. When I check the IP on any of my other devices, where the Pi-hole is the DNS server, the results show my IP is in my country. When I check the IP on the NAS, it shows as being in the other country.
Bizarre issue: Computer on my network cannot be reached by other devices, including router, but is communicating with pi-hole
1 project | /r/pihole | 16 Jun 2023

NAS directly connected to router via ethernet, Windows 10, running Pi-hole on Windows
Help please - clients not showing? :S
1 project | /r/pihole | 22 May 2023

As the pinned comment in that thread indicates, support queries for such should be directed to the project.
Close to Complete PH4WSL Setup - Cannot Figure out iPhone and other Devices
1 project | /r/pihole | 14 Apr 2023

Also worth mentioning that on the project page, it states it's not an 'official' supported install method, and you should use the project's issues page for support questions. Don't want to bug the devs with an issue that might be Windows-specific.
I want to use pihole on windows
1 project | /r/pihole | 12 Apr 2023

NOTE: It's not an 'official' method to run Pi-hole, which means do not request support here. Use the project's GitHub site and file an issue there instead.
Using PiHole with a mobile device, changing WiFi networks
1 project | /r/pihole | 22 Mar 2023

Pi-hole for Windows on GitHub - Installer walk-thru on YouTube
Help updating PH4WSL1.cmd. Where do I run these commands on?
1 project | /r/pihole | 1 Mar 2023
DesktopEcho Pihole for Win10
1 project | /r/pihole | 4 Feb 2023

https://github.com/DesktopECHO/Pi-Hole-for-WSL1/issues/76 may have some information to help, or at least some steps to gather a bit more data for troubleshooting.
Are there commercial applications available?
1 project | /r/pihole | 31 Jan 2023

For anyone who's curious for the repo I used, here it is: Pi-hole-for-wsl1 (github)
Do I need raspberry pi for pihole? Can't get it anywhere!
6 projects | /r/pihole | 2 Jan 2023

This may be to your liking.

kWSL

Posts with mentions or reviews of kWSL. We have used some of these posts to build our list of alternatives and similar projects. The last one was on 2023-10-28.

XRDP with H.264 codec brings immense performance boost
3 projects | news.ycombinator.com | 28 Oct 2023
Easiest way for a Ubuntu desktop interface
1 project | /r/bashonubuntuonwindows | 21 Dec 2021

Check this out https://github.com/DesktopECHO/kWSL
Running a GUI from a remote server on WSL.
1 project | /r/bashonubuntuonwindows | 7 Sep 2021

If you want to try another method for remote access, you could install kWSL (KDE Neon) and enable Chrome Remote Desktop, which is pre-installed.
WSL1 STOP Error in Windows 11 (MEMORY_MANAGEMENT)
1 project | /r/bashonubuntuonwindows | 5 Sep 2021

In Windows 11 on WSL1 - I can run kWSL for seconds (or hours) at a time but Windows 11 inevitably throws a G/BSOD. I suspect one of the Oibaf packages was provoking the bugcheck but I never got too far troubleshooting it.
What has been your experience with alternative shells?
3 projects | /r/windows | 31 Aug 2021
How To Install Ubuntu On Windows Using Windows Subsystem for Linux (Windows Features)
5 projects | /r/bashonubuntuonwindows | 29 Aug 2021

Ubuntu 20.04 + XFCE 4.16 KDE Neon 5.22 Kali-xRDP

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Pi-Hole-for-WSL1 and kWSL you can also consider the following projects:

simplewall - Simple tool to configure Windows Filtering Platform (WFP) which can configure network activity on your computer.

xWSL - Installer script for Ubuntu 22.04/24.04 with XFCE 4.18 desktop in WSL. Does not require hypervisor, container, or X11 server.

gravity-sync - 💫 The easy way to synchronize the DNS configuration of two Pi-hole 5.x instances.

wslu - A collection of utilities for Windows Subsystem for Linux

docker-pi-hole - Pi-hole in a docker container

LiteStep - LiteStep Alternative Shell

web - Pi-hole Dashboard for stats and more

cairoshell - Cairo is a customizable, intuitive desktop environment for Windows.

wirehole - WireHole is a combination of WireGuard, Pi-hole, and Unbound in a docker-compose project with the intent of enabling users to quickly and easily create a personally managed full or split-tunnel WireGuard VPN with ad blocking capabilities thanks to Pi-hole, and DNS caching, additional privacy options, and upstream providers via Unbound.

Kali-xRDP - Kali xRDP Remote Desktop for WSL1 & WSL2

FirstRun - When you first run an operating system, there are a few things to do.