NETCTL-AUTO(1)

💖 NETCTL-AUTO(1) — the netctl-auto manual, but make it cute 💖

okay bestie, so this is the page for netctl-auto in section 1 of the manual. it's the lil tool that handles picking your wireless netctl profile for you, automatically. no cap. ✨

---

🌸 NAME 🌸

netctl-auto — control automatic selection of wireless netctl profiles

---

🎀 SYNOPSIS 🎀

netctl-auto {COMMAND} ...

netctl-auto [--help | --version]

---

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

so here's the vibe: netctl-auto is what you use to babysit the automatic network profile selection that the netctl-auto@.service file does. that's it, that's the job 💅

if you wanna know more about that service file, go read netctl.special(7) — it's got the details.

---

✨ OPTIONS ✨

these are all the commands it understands, and yes we're going through every single one because you deserve to know 👑

• list — shows you every profile that's currently available for automatic selection. the ones that are active get a * next to them, and the ones that are disabled get a !. living their truth, clearly marked 🌈
• switch-to [PROFILE] — switches to the network profile you typed on the command line. if it needs to be enabled first, it will be, and the state of all the other profiles just stays exactly how it was. important tho: this does not force netctl-auto to stay on the profile you picked. if a disconnect happens, netctl-auto may go pick an alternative profile instead. it's giving "i'll try babe, but no promises" 😭
• is-active [PROFILE] — checks whether the network profile you named on the command line is active. prints the current state. simple, honest, iconic.
• enable [PROFILE] — turns a previously disabled network profile back on for automatic selection. and fun fact 🍓: every single time the netctl-auto service starts, all available profiles are enabled by default anyway. so it's a reset-core situation.
• disable [PROFILE] — disables the profile you specify so it won't be auto-selected. ngl, this only lasts until the netctl-auto service gets stopped. so if you want to permanently exclude a profile from automatic selection, that's not this — use the ExcludeAuto=yes option in the profile itself instead. periodt 💅
• enable-all — enables all the profiles for automatic selection. the whole roster. everybody in 🫶
• disable-all — disables all the profiles for automatic selection. bench era 💀
• is-enabled [PROFILE] — checks whether the profile you named is enabled for the netctl-auto service that is currently running. prints the current enable status. (yes, currently running — this is about the live service, not hypotheticals.)
• start [INTERFACE] — starts automatic profile selection on the interface you specify.

🚨 okay so please don't run this one directly bestie. run this instead:

systemctl start netctl-auto@<interface>

• stop [INTERFACE] — stops automatic profile selection on the specified interface. heads up: this will disconnect whatever profile is currently active on that interface. bye felicia 👋

🚨 same deal — don't invoke this one directly either. use this instead:

systemctl stop netctl-auto@<interface>

---

💜 EXIT STATUS 💜

if everything slays, it returns 0. if not, you get a non-zero failure code. that's the whole story 🌸

---

🧚 ENVIRONMENT 🧚

• $NETCTL_DEBUG — set it to "yes" and you get debugging output. that's it, that's the setting ✨

---

⭐ SEE ALSO ⭐

netctl(1), netctl.profile(5), netctl.special(7)

---

okay that's the whole page, you're officially educated 💖 this was the netctl-auto(1) manual (page version dated 01/26/2026, and it's the netctl-auto page from that same manual — same name top and bottom, cute right?) — now go configure something and absolutely eat 🔥👑