ubuntu 20.04 server not recognising ethernet connection

Solution 1:

Allright, so as pointed out by @Silbee, the kernel did not support my ethernet adapter. So I figured I should write a step by step guide for others experiencing the same problems as I did.

Step 1: (Download kernel files)

I downloaded the following files in order to upgrade the kernel:

https://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v5.9/amd64/linux-headers-5.9.0-050900_5.9.0-050900.202010112230_all.deb
https://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v5.9/amd64/linux-headers-5.9.0-050900-generic_5.9.0-050900.202010112230_amd64.deb
https://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v5.9/amd64/linux-image-unsigned-5.9.0-050900-generic_5.9.0-050900.202010112230_amd64.deb
https://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v5.9/amd64/linux-modules-5.9.0-050900-generic_5.9.0-050900.202010112230_amd64.deb

Then move to a USB drive (remember, we don't have the convenience of internet to do everything for us...)

example folder structure: D:/kernel/

You should have 4 files in the kernel folder on your usb drive.

Step 2: (Mount USB)

• Create a folder for mounting your USB: $ mkdir /media/usb
• Find USB drive address: $ lsblk
• Mount USB drive in folder: sudo mount /dev/sdb1 /media/usb (my USB drive's address was sdb1)

Step 3: (Install new kernel)

To install:

Move to the kernel folder

$ cd /media/usb/kernel

And install the new kernel:

$ sudo dpkg -i *.deb

Step 4: (find ethernet interface)

If all has gone well as it did for me you should find a new interface when running the following command: $ ip a

For a more detailed guide on this, please refer to this answer

Hope it helped!

Note to comment of Silbee: Mind you, switching to the HWE stack kernel will severely limit LTE support, as they only come with 6 months worth of security updates.