libvirt KVM virtual NIC as ens160 for running a virtual appliance designed for Vmware

Sunday, 30 March 2025

Hi,

I want to run a virtual appliance which was designed for Vmware on libvirt Linux/KVM.

Unfortunately, they hardcoded the kernel NIC name to ens160 inside that image.

I can create a libvirt XML which creates a NIC recognised as ensXX, but not ens160,
because libvirt doesn’t allow PCI slots over 0x1f.

Is there any possible way to create a virtual NIC ens160 without modifying the image?

Thanks.