resolvconf: Error: /etc/resolv.conf must be a symlink Error and Solution

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The error “resolvconf: Error: /etc/resolv.conf must be a symlink” occurs when the /etc/resolv.conf file on a Linux system is not a symbolic link, which is the expected configuration for systems using the resolvconf package.

The solution to this error is to create a symbolic link for /etc/resolv.conf pointing to /run/resolvconf/resolv.conf. This can be done using the following steps:

  1. Back up the current /etc/resolv.conf file:
sudo cp /etc/resolv.conf /etc/resolv.conf.bak
  1. Remove the current /etc/resolv.conf file:
sudo rm /etc/resolv.conf
  1. Create a symbolic link for /etc/resolv.conf pointing to /run/resolvconf/resolv.conf:
sudo ln -s /run/resolvconf/resolv.conf /etc/resolv.conf
  1. Verify that the symbolic link has been created correctly:
ls -l /etc/resolv.conf

This should return output similar to the following, indicating that /etc/resolv.conf is a symbolic link:

lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 32 Jan 1 12:00 /etc/resolv.conf -> /run/resolvconf/resolv.conf

After creating the symbolic link, the resolvconf error should no longer occur. If necessary, you can restore the original /etc/resolv.conf file from the backup created in step 1.

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