Why is my network card being called "devXXXX" instead of "ethX" in RHEL?

Solution Unverified - Updated -

Issue

  • The most common cause of this problem is when a new network interface inserted and configured before running kudzu. To fix the problem run kudzu and then modify the device entry in the /etc/sysconfig/hwconf file.
  • This often occurs when running RHEL as a VMware guest.

Example /etc/sysconfig/hwconf:

class: NETWORK
bus: PCI
detached: 0
device: dev25945
driver: e1000
desc: "Intel Corporation 82546EB Gigabit Ethernet Controller (Copper)"
network.hwaddr: 00:11:22:33:44:55
vendorId: 8086
deviceId: 1010
subVendorId: 8086
subDeviceId: 1012
pciType: 1
pcidom: 0
pcibus: 10
pcidev: 1
pcifn: 0

Environment

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5

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