When `ip link` shows no IP but you can ping: diagnosing an absent IPv4 on a bridge interface

Mon, 26 Oct 2026 09:30:59 +0200

I was in the middle of setting up a tiny homelab VM that bridges straight to the host. The guest could ping the gateway just fine, but ip addr show br0 was staring back at me with no inet line. The bridge was up, state UP, yet no IPv4. What’s going on?

1. Distinguish link‑state from IP‑state

ip link only tells you about the link layer. An interface can be physically up and still have no IP if the DHCP client never got a lease or a static config never ran.

Bridges on Linux Café

When `ip link` shows no IP but you can ping: diagnosing an absent IPv4 on a bridge interface

1. Distinguish link‑state from IP‑state