Probably 'cause your system is not using it? Maybe NetworkManager?
It sounds like you don’t know enough about what’s going on - don’t touch it - the installer defaults are usually okay for most people and smart enough. I hardly ever have to tweak my network configuration - it mostly just works from the moment of install (I mostly use DHCP - but - e.g. on my desktop machine with Pop!_OS 22.04 - I run my Synergy KVM “server” - so it needs a fixed IP address - so I set it in the Gnome Settings “Network” applet - but - its also outside the DHCP scope of my router, and regardless, I have a static lease set for that IP address in my router, regardless).
Pop!_OS 22.04 system (x86_64 on a ThinkPad E495) :
╭─x@fenrix ~
╰─➤ sudo systemctl status systemd-networkd
○ systemd-networkd.service - Network Configuration
Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/systemd-networkd.service; disabled; vendor preset: enabled)
Active: inactive (dead)
TriggeredBy: ○ systemd-networkd.socket
Docs: man:systemd-networkd.service(8)
Debian 9 system (Raspbian 9) :
╭─x@telesto ~
╰─➤ sudo systemctl status systemd-networkd
● systemd-networkd.service - Network Service
Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/systemd-networkd.service; disabled; vendor preset: enabled)
Active: inactive (dead)
Docs: man:systemd-networkd.service(8)
Debian 12 system (Raspbian 12) :
╭─x@frambo ~
╰─➤ sudo systemctl status systemd-networkd
○ systemd-networkd.service - Network Configuration
Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/systemd-networkd.service; disabled; preset: enabled)
Active: inactive (dead)
TriggeredBy: ○ systemd-networkd.socket
Docs: man:systemd-networkd.service(8)
man:org.freedesktop.network1(5)an 12 system (Raspbian 12) :
Debian 11 system (Raspbian 11) :
x@anthe ~ sudo systemctl status systemd-networkd
● systemd-networkd.service - Network Service
Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/systemd-networkd.service; disabled; vendor preset: enabled)
Active: inactive (dead)
TriggeredBy: ● systemd-networkd.socket
Docs: man:systemd-networkd.service(8
The ONLY system I have that’s running systemd-networkd is Ubuntu 24.04 on a Raspberry Pi5 :
╭─x@razuberi ~
╰─➤ sudo systemctl status systemd-networkd
● systemd-networkd.service - Network Configuration
Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/systemd-networkd.service; disabled; preset: enabled)
Active: active (running) since Tue 2025-03-11 09:15:00 AWST; 2 weeks 0 days ago
TriggeredBy: ● systemd-networkd.socket
Docs: man:systemd-networkd.service(8)
man:org.freedesktop.network1(5)
Main PID: 14519 (systemd-network)
Status: "Processing requests..."
Tasks: 1 (limit: 9061)
FD Store: 0 (limit: 512)
Memory: 2.4M (peak: 3.3M swap: 244.0K swap peak: 244.0K zswap: 34.0K)
CPU: 1min 38.464s
CGroup: /system.slice/systemd-networkd.service
└─14519 /usr/lib/systemd/systemd-networkd
Note: it says its disabled - but it’s still running (“active (running)”) - don’t ask me to explain why, I don’t know and I don’t care enough to find the answer.
If I look at my network settings on the Pi5 (Ubuntu 24.04) :
╭─x@razuberi ~
╰─➤ nmcli -p device 2 ↵
=====================
Status of devices
=====================
DEVICE TYPE STATE CONNECTION
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
eth0 ethernet connected netplan-eth0
wlan0 wifi connected REDACTED
lo loopback connected (externally) lo
p2p-dev-wlan0 wifi-p2p disconnected
This shows that the NetworkManager config is coming via netplan (“netplan-eth0”)
My other Ubuntu 24.04 (a Dell Latitude 7270) isn’t running systemd-networkd :
╭─x@mimasii ~
╰─➤ systemctl status systemd-networkd 3 ↵
○ systemd-networkd.service - Network Configuration
Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/systemd-networkd.service; disabled; preset: enabled)
Active: inactive (dead)
TriggeredBy: ○ systemd-networkd.socket
Docs: man:systemd-networkd.service(8)
man:org.freedesktop.network1(5)
FD Store: 0 (limit: 512)
It’s “loaded” but inactive… So it’s not really running…
All the above are working just fine for me - I don’t need to fiddle with anything there…
My Debian 9 uses dhcpcd, Debian 11 and 12 are using NetworkManager, Ubuntu 24.04 x64 is using netplan / NetworkManager (renderer: NetworkManager), Pop!_OS is using NetworkManager…
Note : there is no systemd unit file for systemd-networkd on my RHEL9 VM - so it’s purely running NetworkManager and using NetworkManager alone…
So this begs the question - WHY do you think you need to fiddle with this stuff? Don’t mean to sound rude - but I’m curious what you’re hoping to achieve…