Howto: Prevent a Linux kernel module from auto loading

by Vivek Gite · 6 comments

In some situation you may want to avoid loading a Linux driver module automatically . For example:
[a] You would like to use proprietary device driver (I'm against any sort of proprietary drivers) and not inbuilt (reverse engineer) kernel driver.

[b] If your server system connected without a diskette / floppy drive; kernel will try to load floppy driver - disable floppy driver or module.

[c] In some cases buggy driver causes kernel BUG on load so you just want to avoid the problem.

The Linux kernel get module information from /etc/modprobe.conf file and /etc/modprobe.d/* file(s).

If you are using CentOS/Redhat/RHEL/Fedora Linux...

Just open your /etc/modprobe.conf file and turn of auto loading using following syntax:
alias driver-name off

If you are using Debian / Ubuntu Linux...

open /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist file and add drivername using following syntax:
blacklist driver-name

Reboot your box and use lsmod command to show the status of modules in the Linux Kernel.

Featured Articles:

Want to read Linux tips and tricks, but don't have time to check our blog everyday? Subscribe to our daily email newsletter to make sure you don't miss a single tip/tricks. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here!

{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }

1 Béranger 06.14.07 at 6:30 am

Blacklisting in /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist works in F7 too, not only in Debian!

2 Erik Bussink 06.14.07 at 7:04 pm

On a similar path, how would you go about disabling USB without having to add nousb on the kernel settings line in GRUB ?

3 vivek 06.15.07 at 10:34 am

You need to add following drivers
usbcore
ehci_hcd
uhci_hcd

lsmod and modinfo command always gives information about loaded drivers.

4 Prakash 08.31.07 at 8:57 pm

the method is if nothing works in debian based distros to blacklist a certain module,try making a file /etc/modprobe.d/00local with content as
install modulename /bin/true

5 MotoHoss 07.15.08 at 9:57 pm

The debian way? An update has been written and is available here : http://wiki.debian.org/KernelModuleBlacklisting

6 Ravi J 12.29.09 at 7:53 pm

I am unable to stop kvm, kvm_intel from getting loaded even after adding those to blacklist (Ubuntu 9.10).

Leave a Comment

You can use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>

Previous post:

Next post: