Blocking Bing at Home with Pi-Hole (Without Breaking Edge)

🚫 Blocking Bing at Home with Pi-hole (Without Breaking Edge)

Microsoft Bing has a habit of inserting itself into browsers, operating systems, and “helpful” search features — even when you didn’t ask for it.

This guide shows how to block Bing network-wide using Pi-hole, while still allowing Microsoft Edge, Windows Update, and sync features to work normally.

🧠 What This Guide Covers

• Blocking Bing at the DNS level using Pi-hole
• Preventing Bing reinjection in Microsoft Edge
• Keeping Edge updates and Windows Update working
• Optional hardening steps for privacy-focused setups

🛠 Prerequisites

• A working Pi-hole instance
• Pi-hole configured as the primary DNS for your network
• Admin access to Pi-hole
• Optional: Microsoft Edge installed on at least one client

1️⃣ Blocking Bing with Pi-hole (Network-Wide)

This blocks Bing for every device on your network — desktops, phones, tablets, smart TVs, etc.

🔒 Domains to Block

In Pi-hole Admin → Group Management → Domains → Blacklist, add the following:

bing.com
www.bing.com
api.bing.com
bingapis.com
www.bingapis.com
c.bing.com
th.bing.com
www.msn.com
ntp.msn.com

https://github.com/lancer1977/DataSeeds/blob/master/block_lists/bing.list

Why These Domains?

• bing.com, api.bing.com → core search endpoints
• c.bing.com, th.bing.com → tracking, suggestions, thumbnails
• msn.com, ntp.msn.com → Bing-powered Edge new tab content

This combination stops:

• Direct Bing searches
• Address bar fallback searches
• MSN news / trending reinjection

2️⃣ Domains You Should NOT Block

Blocking these will break Edge or Windows updates.

❌ Do NOT block:

edge.microsoft.com
msedge.api.cdp.microsoft.com
update.microsoft.com
windowsupdate.microsoft.com

These are required for:

• Edge updates
• Extension installs
• Profile sync
• Windows Update

3️⃣ Restart Pi-hole DNS

After adding domains, restart DNS:

pihole restartdns

If clients cache DNS aggressively, flush client DNS as well.

Linux (systemd-resolved)
sudo resolvectl flush-caches
4️⃣ Configure Microsoft Edge to Stop Using Bing

You can keep Edge — you just need to disable its Bing hooks.

🔍 Set a Different Search Engine

Edge → Settings → Privacy, search, and services → Address bar and search

Set:

• Search engine used in the address bar → DuckDuckGo (or Google)
• Search on new tabs → Address bar
• Address bar search engine suggestions → Off

🔕 Disable Bing Reinjection Features

Edge → Settings → Privacy, search, and services

Turn OFF:

• Show me search and site suggestions using my typed characters
• Show me personalized ads
• Improve Microsoft products by sending optional diagnostic data
• Search and service improvement

These settings are commonly used to route searches back to Bing.

5️⃣ Clean Up the Edge New Tab Page

Open a new tab → ⚙️ Settings

Set:

• Layout → Focused
• Content → Content off
• Quick links → Off

This disables:

• MSN news
• Trending Bing searches
• Sponsored tiles

6️⃣ (Optional) Extra Privacy Hardening
Block Microsoft Search Telemetry

Add these optionally if you want deeper privacy control:

self.events.data.microsoft.com
browser.events.data.microsoft.com

⚠️ This may reduce “smart” suggestions but does not break Edge.

7️⃣ Verifying It Works
Test DNS Resolution
ping bing.com

Expected result:

• ping: bing.com: Name or service not known
• Pi-hole Query Log
• Open Query Log
• Filter for bing

Requests should show Blocked (gravity)

✅ Result

• Bing is blocked network-wide
• Edge remains fully functional
• Windows Update continues working
• No browser extensions required
• No per-device configuration needed

*Note: Made with the help of AI (I'm not this smart!)