# realtek-r8125-dkms: the 2.5 GbE driver that survives kernel upgrades > realtek-r8125-dkms packages the Realtek RTL8125 driver for Linux in the DKMS form, so the newest driver keeps working after a kernel upgrade, and it is installable from a Debian package, a Launchpad PPA or a script. The judgement is that the packaging work is the real contribution, and that the module priority problem between r8125 and r8169 is the thing every user has to solve by hand. **awesometic/realtek-r8125-dkms** — A DKMS package for easy use of Realtek r8125 driver, which supports 2.5 GbE. - Repository: https://github.com/awesometic/realtek-r8125-dkms - Stars: 716 · Forks: 105 - Language: C - License: GPL-2.0 - Published: 2026-10-21 · Updated: 2026-10-21 · Language: en - Canonical page: https://hysenlabs.com/projects/awesometic-realtek-r8125-dkms ## A driver that is rebuilt when the kernel changes realtek-r8125-dkms provides the Realtek r8125 driver in the DKMS way, so that you can keep the latest driver even after a kernel upgrade. That single sentence is the whole project, and it is a smaller idea than it sounds. The problem it solves is the packaging problem of out-of-tree drivers. A Linux distribution ships a kernel module for the Realtek RTL8125, and that module is usually the older r8169, because the r8125 driver is not in the mainline tree. When you upgrade the kernel, the in-tree module is rebuilt for the new kernel and your card goes back to the old driver. A DKMS package does not have that problem, because DKMS rebuilds the out-of-tree module for every kernel you install. So the package is a small piece of glue: the Realtek driver source, a dkms.conf that says which kernel versions it supports, and a Debian package that installs the lot. The driver itself is the vendor's. The Makefile in the repository states that r8125 is the Linux device driver released by Realtek Semiconductor for 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet controllers with a PCI-Express interface, and the copyright line is Realtek Semiconductor Corp, with the NIC software team in Hsinchu Science Park in Taiwan named as the author. The readme records the patents the product is covered by, three of them, which is the kind of detail that only appears in vendor source. The project is GPL 2 licensed, and the last push was on 2026-07-25, with the newest release, 9.018.00-1, published on the same day. ## Check whether you have the PCI card or the USB adapter There is a warning at the top of the readme, and it is the kind that saves an afternoon. This DKMS package is for Realtek RTL8125 Ethernet, r8125 in the module name, which is designed for the PCI interface. If you are searching for the Realtek 2.5 Gbits USB Ethernet adapter, which may use RTL8156, r8152 in the module name, you are in the wrong place, and the readme points to a different DKMS project for that driver, the Realtek R8152 package maintained by the same author. The two adapters are visually similar, sell for similar money and are both sold as 2.5 gigabit, and their kernel modules are different. The Realtek naming is also not a reliable guide, because the module name is not the model number, so the module r8152 is the driver for the RTL8156 chip. So the check before you install anything is to see which module your kernel is currently using for that adapter, which is also the first step of the troubleshooting flow later in the readme. The project is explicit that it is a driver for one chip on one bus, and everything else about the package, the firmware handling, the module names, the blacklisting, assumes that. That is worth noting because the repository covers both the hardware question and the software question, and the hardware question is the one people get wrong. ## Three installation routes, and they are not the same thing There are three ways to install the module, the readme says, and that you can do all three but absolutely do not need to. The key difference between them is whether the module survives a kernel upgrade, and the readme is careful to say which is which. The recommended route is the Debian package, downloaded from the Release tab of the repository and installed with dpkg: ```bash sudo dpkg -i realtek-r8125-dkms*.deb ``` The wildcard is a trap, and the readme says so, if several files are selected you should type the specific version of the file, for example the file name with the architecture in it. A dependency error is fixed with the apt equivalent, sudo apt install --fix-broken. The Launchpad PPA is marked recommended in the readme, and it is the route that gets the newest driver, because the PPA is updated by the maintainer rather than being a fixed file. Adding it and installing is two commands: ```bash sudo add-apt-repository ppa:awesometic/ppa sudo apt install realtek-r8125-dkms ``` The third route is the script that Realtek itself ships in its own driver package, the autorun.sh script, and the readme is explicit that this is not installed as a DKMS and only applies to the current kernel. The fourth option, dkms-install.sh, comes from the aircrack-ng team and does install the module properly. So of the four, two give you a DKMS module that follows your kernels, and one is the vendor script that does not. ## r8169 loads first, and the blacklist is the fix Installing the driver is not the end of it, and the readme devotes a section to the failure that catches people. After installing the package you may not be able to use the new r8125 module on the fly, because the existing r8169 module will be loaded with priority and that prevents the r8125 module from working. The check is a single command: ```bash lsmod | grep -i r8169 ``` If there is a result, the r8125 module was probably not loaded properly, and the readme points at lspci -k and dmesg as the other ways to see which modules are in use. The fix is to stop the old module from loading, by writing a blacklist file: ```bash sudo tee -a /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-r8169.conf > /dev/null <