br0

Bridge (br0) — a virtual switch on the host. The host's physical NIC plugs into it and VMs attach to it. Each machine (host, VM, phone) keeps its own IP on the same subnet.

systemd-networkd — i will be using EndevourOS but any distro with systemd will work. please note! the enp1s0 is placeholder. Your eth NIC may be different. please use ip a to find yours

Place these files in /etc/systemd/network/. Prefixes (10-,20-,30-) control ordering.

if dir or files do not exist, it is perfectly safe to create it :)

1) 10-br0.netdev — create bridge device

[NetDev]
Name=br0
Kind=bridge

2) 20-enp1s0.network — enslave your NIC to the bridge

[Match]
Name=enp1s0

[Network]
Bridge=br0

3) 30-br0-static.network — give the bridge an IP (static example)

[Match]
Name=br0

[Network]
Address=192.168.1.144/24
Gateway=192.168.1.1
DNS=1.1.1.1 8.8.8.8
DHCP=no

Then enable and start networkd:

sudo systemctl enable --now systemd-networkd
sudo systemctl restart systemd-networkd

In Virt‑Manager, edit the VM → NIC → set Network source to Bridge and pick br0. Set model to virtio for best perf.

Static IP inside ubuntu VM (Netplan)

network:
  version: 2
  renderer: networkd
  ethernets:
    enp1s0:
      dhcp4: no
      addresses: [192.168.1.69/24]
      gateway4: 192.168.1.1
      nameservers:
        addresses: [1.1.1.1, 8.8.8.8]

Apply with sudo netplan apply inside the VM.

1. Check bridge on host:

   ip a show br0

2. Ping router from host and VM:

   ping 192.168.1.1

3. SSH from phone:

   ssh user@192.168.1.69

Common problems:

• Physical NIC still has IP — flush it:

  sudo ip addr flush dev enp42s0
  sudo systemctl restart systemd-networkd

• NetworkManager conflict — mark NIC unmanaged:

  sudo nmcli device set enp42s0 managed no

  If you prefer the GUI to manage things, use NetworkManager's bridge support instead.
• "Limited connectivity" desktop warning — often cosmetic; desktop looks at the physical NIC, but the bridge owns the IP.
• Bridge doesn't come up after reboot — ensure systemd-networkd is enabled:

  sudo systemctl enable --now systemd-networkd

  and check journalctl -u systemd-networkd.