In reply to @elvishjerricco:matrix.org
oddlama: Maybe you're missing a kernel module relating to this?

In reply to @elvishjerricco:matrix.org
but that's weird because in nixos we have a wants relationship from multi-user.target on systemd-networkd.service

In reply to @elvishjerricco:matrix.org
oddlama: Something else kinda weird is that on my system that has networkd enabled in both stage 1 and stage 2, I don't see the same messages from the socket unit about "Incoming traffic"

In reply to @elvishjerricco:matrix.org
your default.target is multi-user.target, right? :P

In reply to @elvishjerricco:matrix.org
oddlama: As a sanity check, what's systemctl show -p WantedBy systemd-networkd.service say?

Interesting tidbit from that issue that I'd like to revisit later:

networkd.service removes some (not all) IP addresses, routes, and friends on stop. Hence, restarting networkd during switching root may disconnect network. So, if the rootfs is backed by a network filesystem, system may fail to boot.

It was my understanding that this is explicitly not the case

oddlama: Can you try this in your config and see if it fixes your issue?

boot.initrd.network.flushBeforeStage2 = false;
boot.initrd.systemd = {
  services.systemd-networkd = {
    before = ["initrd-switch-root.target"];
    conflicts = ["initrd-switch-root.target"];
  };
  sockets.systemd-networkd = {
    before = ["initrd-switch-root.target"];
    conflicts = ["initrd-switch-root.target"];
  };
};