Debian Networking – Fix ‘Failed to Start Raise Network Interfaces’ Error on Debian 9

On a fresh installation of Debian 9 Stretch on a desktop PC when booting the

...
Failed to start Raise network interfaces
...

error occurres. The (cable) LAN-connection works but the (USB) WiFi is not working properly (detecting the WiFi networks but failing to connect). Previously on the same harware Debian 8 Jessie was installed working fine without any errors.

Seems the issues are connected to the recent predictable network interface names changes. Found users A, B, C, D, and E had similar symptoms. However, they had upgraded Ubuntu systems (without a clean install). Aditionally the proposed solutions are suggesting disabling the assignment of fixed/predictable/unique names. I would prefer to keep the new naming scheme/standard, eventually to find and eliminate the reason why(?) it is not working properly.

Found also users F, and G with the same problem — without solution.

Would be very thankful for any hint. Also, I'm happy to answer your questions if you need more in depth details.

Further you find some detailed system output.

$ sudo systemctl status networking.service 
● networking.service - Raise network interfaces
   Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/networking.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
   Active: failed (Result: exit-code) since Mon 2017-09-04 17:21:42 IST; 1h 27min ago
     Docs: man:interfaces(5)
  Process: 534 ExecStart=/sbin/ifup -a --read-environment (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)
  Process: 444 ExecStartPre=/bin/sh -c [ "$CONFIGURE_INTERFACES" != "no" ] && [ -n "$(ifquery --read-environment --list --exclude=lo)" ] && udevadm settle (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
 Main PID: 534 (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)

Sep 04 17:21:42 XXX ifup[534]: than a configuration issue please read the section on submitting
Sep 04 17:21:42 XXX ifup[534]: bugs on either our web page at www.isc.org or in the README file
Sep 04 17:21:42 XXX ifup[534]: before submitting a bug.  These pages explain the proper
Sep 04 17:21:42 XXX ifup[534]: process and the information we find helpful for debugging..
Sep 04 17:21:42 XXX ifup[534]: exiting.
Sep 04 17:21:42 XXX ifup[534]: ifup: failed to bring up eth0
Sep 04 17:21:42 XXX systemd[1]: networking.service: Main process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE
Sep 04 17:21:42 XXX systemd[1]: Failed to start Raise network interfaces.
Sep 04 17:21:42 XXX systemd[1]: networking.service: Unit entered failed state.
Sep 04 17:21:42 XXX systemd[1]: networking.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.


$ cat /etc/network/interfaces.d/setup
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

auto eth0
iface eth0 inet dhcp

EDIT2start:

$ sudo ifconfig
[sudo] password for XXX: 
enp3s0: flags=4163<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,MULTICAST>  mtu 1500
        inet 192.168.178.31  netmask 255.255.255.0  broadcast 192.168.178.255
        inet6 xxxx::xxx:xxxx:xxxx:xxxx  prefixlen 64  scopeid 0x20<link>
        ether xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx  txqueuelen 1000  (Ethernet)
        RX packets 765  bytes 523923 (511.6 KiB)
        RX errors 0  dropped 0  overruns 0  frame 0
        TX packets 803  bytes 101736 (99.3 KiB)
        TX errors 0  dropped 0 overruns 0  carrier 0  collisions 0
        device interrupt 17  

lo: flags=73<UP,LOOPBACK,RUNNING>  mtu 65536
        inet 127.0.0.1  netmask 255.0.0.0
        inet6 ::1  prefixlen 128  scopeid 0x10<host>
        loop  txqueuelen 1  (Local Loopback)
        RX packets 50  bytes 3720 (3.6 KiB)
        RX errors 0  dropped 0  overruns 0  frame 0
        TX packets 50  bytes 3720 (3.6 KiB)
        TX errors 0  dropped 0 overruns 0  carrier 0  collisions 0

wlxf4f26d1b7521: flags=4099<UP,BROADCAST,MULTICAST>  mtu 1500
        ether xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx  txqueuelen 1000  (Ethernet)
        RX packets 0  bytes 0 (0.0 B)
        RX errors 0  dropped 0  overruns 0  frame 0
        TX packets 0  bytes 0 (0.0 B)
        TX errors 0  dropped 0 overruns 0  carrier 0  collisions 0

EDIT2end.

$ ip link
1: lo: <LOOPBACK,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 65536 qdisc noqueue state UNKNOWN mode DEFAULT group default qlen 1
    link/loopback 00:00:00:00:00:00 brd 00:00:00:00:00:00
2: enp3s0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc mq state UP mode DEFAULT group default qlen 1000
    link/ether xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
3: wlxf4f26d1b7521: <NO-CARRIER,BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP> mtu 1500 qdisc mq state DOWN mode DORMANT group default qlen 1000
    link/ether xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff

EDITstart:

$ lsusb
...
Bus 001 Device 004: ID 0cf3:9271 Atheros Communications, Inc. AR9271 802.11n
...

$ sudo cat /etc/network/interfaces
# This file describes the network interfaces available on your system
# and how to activate them. For more information, see interfaces(5).

source /etc/network/interfaces.d/*

# The loopback network interface
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

EDITend.

EDIT3start:

$ sudo systemctl status networking.service
● networking.service - Raise network interfaces
   Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/networking.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
   Active: active (exited) since Tue 2017-09-05 10:29:16 IST; 44min ago
     Docs: man:interfaces(5)
  Process: 565 ExecStart=/sbin/ifup -a --read-environment (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
  Process: 438 ExecStartPre=/bin/sh -c [ "$CONFIGURE_INTERFACES" != "no" ] && [ -n "$(ifquery --read-environment --list --exclude=lo)" ] && udevadm settle (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
 Main PID: 565 (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
    Tasks: 0 (limit: 4915)
   CGroup: /system.slice/networking.service

Sep 05 10:26:56 sdd9 systemd[1]: Starting Raise network interfaces...
Sep 05 10:26:56 sdd9 ifup[565]: ifup: waiting for lock on /run/network/ifstate.enp3s0
Sep 05 10:29:16 sdd9 systemd[1]: Started Raise network interfaces.

EDIT3end.