disabling predictable network interface names in xubuntu 15.10

Question

How do we disable predictable network interface names in xubuntu 15.10 ? I want my old interfaces naming like eth0 ... ethx, some of my software assumes eth0 interface to be present and is hard coded all over the place.

Solution

As root, in the file /etc/default/grub

Add net.ifnames=0 biosdevname=0 to the kernel command line in your grub config.

To do so, change the following line

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX=""

to

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="net.ifnames=0 biosdevname=0"

then save the file, run update-grub and then reboot.

Comments

[Admin]

Remember to fix the offending software. You can't avoid using predictable network device names forever.

[Admin]

I will certainly try though! ;)

[Admin]

And why do they make offending upgrades, forcing a naming cheme, totally different from the one used for many years? I find no reason, except breaking millions of working network setup scripts.

[Admin]

@Nuclear The same applies to many systemd inventions.

[Ravikumar Tulugu]

is that it ? no need to modify dev-rules and other stuff ?

[aloplop85]

In Ubuntu 14.04 (mini.iso image) I do that but I only get the splash saying "Waiting for network configuration..." and network interfaces do not appear :(

[jsaddwater]

This should be default for desktop systems

[Eric M]

Thanks, Iain! A nice concise answer.

[pefu]

I consider those unpredictable "predictable device" names harmful. Future versions of Linux should turn those down and return to net.ifnames=0 as the default.

[kfsone]

the fact they chose "predictable" instead of "deterministic" underlies why they should not have made this change. It was predictable before, it would be "eth something". Now it's predictable in that it will be "e something{1,3} something{1,4} (something{1,2} something{1,2})?"