How to Fix “Device eth0 Does Not Seem to Be Present” Error in Linux?

Introduction

When starting or restarting the network service on a Linux VM, you may encounter the following error:

Device eth0 does not seem to be present, delaying initialization

This issue commonly occurs when the network interface configuration does not match the network adapter available on the VM. It can happen after changing the VM’s network adapter or when the configured MAC address no longer matches the current interface.

Prerequisites

Before making any changes, make sure you have:

• Root or sudo access to the VM.
• Console access to the VM in case the network connection is lost.
• A backup of the network configuration file.
• Access to the VM or hypervisor configuration to verify the current network adapter.

Implementation

1. Check the Network Interface

First, check the available network interfaces:

$ ip addr

Verify whether eth0 is available and identify the current network interface and MAC address.

2. Check the Persistent Network Rules

Check whether the persistent network rules file exists:

$ ls -l /etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-net.rules

If the file exists, remove it:

$ rm /etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-net.rules

This allows the system to recreate the network interface mapping during the next boot.

3. Check the eth0 Configuration

Open the network configuration file:

$ vi /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0

Review the configuration and remove the HWADDR/MAC address and UUID entries if they refer to the old network adapter.

For example:

DEVICE=eth0 TYPE=Ethernet ONBOOT=yes BOOTPROTO=dhcp

Make sure the interface name matches the actual network interface shown by ip addr.

4. Reboot the VM

After updating the network configuration, reboot the VM:

$ reboot

5. Verify the Network

After the VM comes back online, verify the interface:

$ ip addr

Check connectivity:

Also verify that the network service is running:

$ systemctl status network

Conclusion

The “Device eth0 does not seem to be present, delaying initialisation” error is generally related to a mismatch between the configured network interface and the network adapter currently attached to the VM.