Manual: modprobe
MODPROBE(8) modprobe MODPROBE(8)
NAME
modprobe - Add and remove modules from the Linux Kernel
SYNOPSIS
modprobe [-v] [-V] [-C config-file] [-n] [-i] [-q] [-b] [modulename]
[module parameters...]
modprobe [-r] [-v] [-n] [-i] [modulename...]
modprobe [-c]
modprobe [--dump-modversions] [filename]
DESCRIPTION
modprobe intelligently adds or removes a module from the Linux kernel: note that for convenience, there is no differā
ence between _ and - in module names (automatic underscore conversion is performed). modprobe looks in the module diā
rectory /usr/lib/`uname -r` for all the modules and other files, except for the optional configuration files (see
modprobe.d(5) ). modprobe will also use module options specified on the kernel command line in the form of . and blacklists in the form of modprobe.blacklist=.
Note that unlike in 2.4 series Linux kernels (which are not supported by this tool) this version of modprobe does not
do anything to the module itself: the work of resolving symbols and understanding parameters is done inside the kerā
nel. So module failure is sometimes accompanied by a kernel message: see dmesg(8) .
modprobe expects an up-to-date modules.dep.bin file as generated by the corresponding depmod utility shipped along
with modprobe (see depmod(8) ). This file lists what other modules each module needs (if any), and modprobe uses this
to add or remove these dependencies automatically.
If any arguments are given after the modulename, they are passed to the kernel (in addition to any options listed in
the configuration file).
When loading modules, modulename can also be a path to the module. If the path is relative, it must explicitly start
with "./". Note that this may fail when using a path to a module with dependencies not matching the installed depmod
database.
OPTIONS
-a, --all
Insert all module names on the command line.
-b, --use-blacklist
This option causes modprobe to apply the blacklist commands in the configuration files (if any) to module names
as well. It is usually used by udev(7) .
-C directory, --config=directory
This option overrides the default configuration directory. See modprobe.d(5) .
This option is passed through install or remove commands to other modprobe commands in the MODPROBE_OPTIONS enviā
ronment variable.
-c, --showconfig
Dump out the effective configuration from the config directory and exit.
--dump-modversions
Print out a list of module versioning information required by a module. This option is commonly used by distribuā
tions in order to package up a Linux kernel module using module versioning deps.
-d, --dirname
Root directory for modules, / by default.
--first-time
Normally, modprobe will succeed (and do nothing) if told to insert a module which is already present or to remove
a module which isn't present. This is ideal for simple scripts; however, more complicated scripts often want to
know whether modprobe really did something: this option makes modprobe fail in the case that it actually didn't
do anything.
--force-vermagic
Every module contains a small string containing important information, such as the kernel and compiler versions.
If a module fails to load and the kernel complains that the "version magic" doesn't match, you can use this opā
tion to remove it. Naturally, this check is there for your protection, so using this option is dangerous unless
you know what you're doing.
This applies to any modules inserted: both the module (or alias) on the command line and any modules on which it
depends.
--force-modversion
When modules are compiled with CONFIG_MODVERSIONS set, a section detailing the versions of every interfaced used
by (or supplied by) the module is created. If a module fails to load and the kernel complains that the module
disagrees about a version of some interface, you can use --force-modversion to remove the version information alā
together. Naturally, this check is there for your protection, so using this option is dangerous unless you know
what you're doing.
This applies to any modules inserted: both the module (or alias) on the command line and any modules on which it
depends.
-f, --force
Try to strip any versioning information from the module which might otherwise stop it from loading: this is the
same as using both --force-vermagic and --force-modversion. Naturally, these checks are there for your protecā
tion, so using this option is dangerous unless you know what you are doing.
This applies to any modules inserted: both the module (or alias) on the command line and any modules on which it
depends.
-i, --ignore-install, --ignore-remove
This option causes modprobe to ignore install and remove commands in the configuration file (if any) for the modā
ule specified on the command line (any dependent modules are still subject to commands set for them in the conā
figuration file). Both install and remove commands will currently be ignored when this option is used regardless
of whether the request was more specifically made with only one or other (and not both) of --ignore-install or
--ignore-remove. See modprobe.d(5) .
-n, --dry-run, --show
This option does everything but actually insert or delete the modules (or run the install or remove commands).
Combined with -v, it is useful for debugging problems. For historical reasons both --dry-run and --show actually
mean the same thing and are interchangeable.
-q, --quiet
With this flag, modprobe won't print an error message if you try to remove or insert a module it can't find (and
isn't an alias or install/remove command). However, it will still return with a non-zero exit status. The kernel
uses this to opportunistically probe for modules which might exist using request_module.
-R, --resolve-alias
Print all module names matching an alias. This can be useful for debugging module alias problems.
-r, --remove
This option causes modprobe to remove rather than insert a module. If the modules it depends on are also unused,
modprobe will try to remove them too. Unlike insertion, more than one module can be specified on the command line
(it does not make sense to specify module parameters when removing modules).
There is usually no reason to remove modules, but some buggy modules require it. Your distribution kernel may not
have been built to support removal of modules at all.
-w TIMEOUT_MSEC, --wait=TIMEOUT_MSEC
This option causes modprobe -r to continue trying to remove a module if it fails due to the module being busy,
i.e. its refcount is not 0 at the time the call is made. Modprobe tries to remove the module with an incremental
sleep time between each tentative up until the maximum wait time in milliseconds passed in this option.
-S version, --set-version=version
Set the kernel version, rather than using uname(2) to decide on the kernel version (which dictates where to find
the modules).
--show-depends
List the dependencies of a module (or alias), including the module itself. This produces a (possibly empty) set
of module filenames, one per line, each starting with "insmod" and is typically used by distributions to deterā
mine which modules to include when generating initrd/initramfs images. Install commands which apply are shown
prefixed by "install". It does not run any of the install commands. Note that modinfo(8) can be used to extract
dependencies of a module from the module itself, but knows nothing of aliases or install commands.
-s, --syslog
This option causes any error messages to go through the syslog mechanism (as LOG_DAEMON with level LOG_NOTICE)
rather than to standard error. This is also automatically enabled when stderr is unavailable.
This option is passed through install or remove commands to other modprobe commands in the MODPROBE_OPTIONS enviā
ronment variable.
-V, --version
Show version of program and exit.
-v, --verbose
Print messages about what the program is doing. Usually modprobe only prints messages if something goes wrong.
This option is passed through install or remove commands to other modprobe commands in the MODPROBE_OPTIONS enviā
ronment variable.
ENVIRONMENT
The MODPROBE_OPTIONS environment variable can also be used to pass command line arguments to modprobe. The format is
intentionally left undocumented, since the use by third-party tools and scripts is discouraged.
The environment variable originates with the implementation of the install rules.
COPYRIGHT
This manual page originally Copyright 2002, Rusty Russell, IBM Corporation.
SEE ALSO
modprobe.d(5) , insmod(8) , rmmod(8) , lsmod(8) , modinfo(8) , depmod(8)
BUGS
Please direct any bug reports to kmod's issue tracker at https://github.com/kmod-project/kmod/issues/ alongside with
version used, steps to reproduce the problem and the expected outcome.
AUTHORS
Numerous contributions have come from the linux-modules mailing list and Github. If
you have a clone of kmod.git itself, the output of git-shortlog(1) and git-blame(1) can show you the authors for speā
cific parts of the project.
Lucas De Marchi is the current maintainer of the project.
kmod 2026-02-02 MODPROBE(8)