Ok, it is essentially yet another duplicate of Bug 911562. In short: use wicked package from updates to opensuse 13.2 and manually add: LINK_REQUIRED=no I can confirm yes it helps. However, this knowledge of how to "fix" fixed ip came with unnecessary frustration and waste of time. IMHO it would make sense to use "LINK_REQUIRED=no" per default in case of manually specified static ip, even for an interface as simple as a plain ethernet card, for reasons perfectly highlighted already in Bug 911562.