The Legacy Dial-Up Daemon
Within Ubuntu and many other Linux distributions, the Point-to-Point Protocol daemon (pppd) is a historical remnant of the dial-up internet era. Specifically, Ubuntu sometimes includes a background service called pppd-dns.service, which is designed to automatically update the system’s DNS resolver configuration (/etc/resolv.conf) when a dial-up modem establishes a PPP connection and receives DNS server addresses from the ISP.
If you are running a modern Ubuntu Server in the cloud, or using a desktop PC connected via standard Ethernet or Wi-Fi, you are absolutely never going to use a 56k dial-up modem or a direct PPP connection. Leaving the pppd-dns service active simply adds an unnecessary layer of complexity to the boot sequence, as it checks for legacy dial-up networking hardware that does not exist. You should disable it to keep your system clean.
How to Disable the PPP DNS Service
You can stop this legacy networking daemon using systemctl.
Warning: Do not do this if you actually use a legacy cellular modem, a PPPoE connection (Point-to-Point Protocol over Ethernet) for your broadband router, or certain types of older VPNs that rely on pppd to configure DNS.
- Open your Ubuntu Terminal or connect via SSH.
- Stop the currently active service (if it is running):
sudo systemctl stop pppd-dns.service- Disable the service so it never attempts to initialize on boot:
sudo systemctl disable pppd-dns.serviceThe PPP DNS resolver daemon is now permanently disabled, ensuring your modern network manager handles all DNS configurations without interference from legacy dial-up scripts.