Fixed: a start job is running for sys-subsystem-net-devices-eth0.device

When booting up, my Arch Linux virtual machine always tells me that “a start job is running for sys-subsystem-net-devices-eth0.device” and I have to wait for another 1 minute and 30s, which is very annoying.

How did I solve this problem?

Once Arch Linux is booted up, open up a terminal window and check system log with the following command:

journalctl -xe

And here’s what I found.

Oct 24 15:40:47 arch systemd[1]: sys-subsystem-net-devices-eth0.device: Job sys-subsystem-net-devices-eth0.device/start timed out
Oct 24 15:40:47 arch systemd[1]: Timed out waiting for device sys-subsystem-net-devices-eth0.device.
-- Subject: Unit sys-subsystem-net-devices-eth0.device has failed
-- Defined-By: systemd
-- Support: http://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/systemd-devel
-- 
-- Unit sys-subsystem-net-devices-eth0.device has failed.
-- 
-- The result is timeout.
Oct 24 15:40:47 arch systemd[1]: Dependency failed for dhcpcd on eth0.
-- Subject: Unit [email protected] has failed
-- Defined-By: systemd
-- Support: http://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/systemd-devel
-- 
-- Unit [email protected] has failed.
-- 
-- The result is dependency.
Oct 24 15:40:47 arch systemd[1]: [email protected]: Job [email protected]/start failed with result 'dependency'.
Oct 24 15:40:47 arch systemd[1]: sys-subsystem-net-devices-eth0.device: Job sys-subsystem-net-devices-eth0.device/start failed w

As you can see from the output, [email protected] is waiting for eth0 interface which has failed.

The systemctl status [email protected] command tells me that this service is supposed to automatically start with system boot.

[linuxbabe@arch ~]$ systemctl status [email protected]
● [email protected] - dhcpcd on eth0
Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/[email protected]; enabled; vendor preset: disabled)
Active: inactive (dead)

Oct 24 15:40:47 arch systemd[1]: Dependency failed for dhcpcd on eth0.
Oct 24 15:40:47 arch systemd[1]: [email protected]: Job [email protected]/start failed with result 'dependency'.

And if I run ip address show command in the terminal, I know that enp0s3 interface has already obtained an IP address from my home router.

So there’s really no need to get eth0 interface up. All I need to do is to disable [email protected].

sudo systemctl disable [email protected]

The annoying “a start job is running for sys-subsystem-net-devices-eth0.device” message will be gone and 1 minute and 30s is saved every time Arch Linux virtual machine is booted up.

Later on I found that I have changed the network mode from the default NAT mode to Bridged Adapter mode in Virtualbox. So the default eth0 interface won’t work in my Arch Linux virtual machine.

I hope this tutorial helped you solve the above problem. As always, if you found this post useful, then please subscribe to our free newsletter or follow us on Google+, Twitter or like our Facebook page. Thanks for visiting!