diff --git a/nixos/doc/manual/from_md/release-notes/rl-2205.section.xml b/nixos/doc/manual/from_md/release-notes/rl-2205.section.xml
index fcda25bf0f9..ab0edcebc67 100644
--- a/nixos/doc/manual/from_md/release-notes/rl-2205.section.xml
+++ b/nixos/doc/manual/from_md/release-notes/rl-2205.section.xml
@@ -2471,6 +2471,21 @@
           hosts.
         </para>
       </listitem>
+      <listitem>
+        <para>
+          The option
+          <link xlink:href="options.html#opt-networking.useDHCP">networking.useDHCP</link>
+          isn’t deprecated anymore. When using
+          <link xlink:href="options.html#opt-networking.useNetworkd"><literal>systemd-networkd</literal></link>,
+          a generic <literal>.network</literal>-unit is added which
+          enables DHCP for each interface matching
+          <literal>en*</literal>, <literal>eth*</literal> or
+          <literal>wl*</literal> with priority 99 (which means that it
+          doesn’t have any effect if such an interface is matched by a
+          <literal>.network-</literal>unit with a lower priority). In
+          case of scripted networking, no behavior was changed.
+        </para>
+      </listitem>
     </itemizedlist>
   </section>
 </section>
diff --git a/nixos/doc/manual/release-notes/rl-2205.section.md b/nixos/doc/manual/release-notes/rl-2205.section.md
index 24fbc537dca..af65ae46131 100644
--- a/nixos/doc/manual/release-notes/rl-2205.section.md
+++ b/nixos/doc/manual/release-notes/rl-2205.section.md
@@ -877,4 +877,11 @@ In addition to numerous new and upgraded packages, this release has the followin
   `true` starting with NixOS 22.11. Enable it explicitly if you need to control
   Snapserver remotely or connect streamig clients from other hosts.
 
+- The option [networking.useDHCP](options.html#opt-networking.useDHCP) isn't deprecated anymore.
+  When using [`systemd-networkd`](options.html#opt-networking.useNetworkd), a generic
+  `.network`-unit is added which enables DHCP for each interface matching `en*`, `eth*`
+  or `wl*` with priority 99 (which means that it doesn't have any effect if such an interface is matched
+  by a `.network-`unit with a lower priority). In case of scripted networking, no behavior
+  was changed.
+
 <!-- To avoid merge conflicts, consider adding your item at an arbitrary place in the list instead. -->
diff --git a/nixos/modules/installer/tools/nixos-generate-config.pl b/nixos/modules/installer/tools/nixos-generate-config.pl
index fb5d3ba4732..b74ec838df4 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/installer/tools/nixos-generate-config.pl
+++ b/nixos/modules/installer/tools/nixos-generate-config.pl
@@ -581,17 +581,19 @@ ${\join "", (map { "  $_\n" } (uniq @attrs))}}
 EOF
 
 sub generateNetworkingDhcpConfig {
+    # FIXME disable networking.useDHCP by default when switching to networkd.
     my $config = <<EOF;
-  # The global useDHCP flag is deprecated, therefore explicitly set to false here.
-  # Per-interface useDHCP will be mandatory in the future, so this generated config
-  # replicates the default behaviour.
-  networking.useDHCP = lib.mkDefault false;
+  # Enables DHCP on each ethernet and wireless interface. In case of scripted networking
+  # (the default) this is the recommended approach. When using systemd-networkd it's
+  # still possible to use this option, but it's recommended to use it in conjunction
+  # with explicit per-interface declarations with `networking.interfaces.<interface>.useDHCP`.
+  networking.useDHCP = lib.mkDefault true;
 EOF
 
     foreach my $path (glob "/sys/class/net/*") {
         my $dev = basename($path);
         if ($dev ne "lo") {
-            $config .= "  networking.interfaces.$dev.useDHCP = lib.mkDefault true;\n";
+            $config .= "  # networking.interfaces.$dev.useDHCP = lib.mkDefault true;\n";
         }
     }
 
diff --git a/nixos/modules/system/boot/networkd.nix b/nixos/modules/system/boot/networkd.nix
index d1a6f46bfc4..0336930b3ab 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/system/boot/networkd.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/system/boot/networkd.nix
@@ -779,6 +779,7 @@ let
           "RouteDenyList"
           "RouteAllowList"
           "DHCPv6Client"
+          "RouteMetric"
         ])
         (assertValueOneOf "UseDNS" boolValues)
         (assertValueOneOf "UseDomains" (boolValues ++ ["route"]))
diff --git a/nixos/modules/tasks/network-interfaces-systemd.nix b/nixos/modules/tasks/network-interfaces-systemd.nix
index 8654539b662..110e84494a3 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/tasks/network-interfaces-systemd.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/tasks/network-interfaces-systemd.nix
@@ -43,12 +43,6 @@ in
     } {
       assertion = cfg.defaultGateway6 == null || cfg.defaultGateway6.interface == null;
       message = "networking.defaultGateway6.interface is not supported by networkd.";
-    } {
-      assertion = cfg.useDHCP == false;
-      message = ''
-        networking.useDHCP is not supported by networkd.
-        Please use per interface configuration and set the global option to false.
-      '';
     } ] ++ flip mapAttrsToList cfg.bridges (n: { rstp, ... }: {
       assertion = !rstp;
       message = "networking.bridges.${n}.rstp is not supported by networkd.";
@@ -80,6 +74,42 @@ in
       in mkMerge [ {
         enable = true;
       }
+      (mkIf cfg.useDHCP {
+        networks."99-ethernet-default-dhcp" = lib.mkIf cfg.useDHCP {
+          # We want to match physical ethernet interfaces as commonly
+          # found on laptops, desktops and servers, to provide an
+          # "out-of-the-box" setup that works for common cases.  This
+          # heuristic isn't perfect (it could match interfaces with
+          # custom names that _happen_ to start with en or eth), but
+          # should be good enough to make the common case easy and can
+          # be overridden on a case-by-case basis using
+          # higher-priority networks or by disabling useDHCP.
+
+          # Type=ether matches veth interfaces as well, and this is
+          # more likely to result in interfaces being configured to
+          # use DHCP when they shouldn't.
+
+          # We set RequiredForOnline to false, because it's fairly
+          # common for such devices to have multiple interfaces and
+          # only one of them to be connected (e.g. a laptop with
+          # ethernet and WiFi interfaces). Maybe one day networkd will
+          # support "any"-style RequiredForOnline...
+          matchConfig.Name = ["en*" "eth*"];
+          DHCP = "yes";
+          linkConfig.RequiredForOnline = lib.mkDefault false;
+        };
+        networks."99-wireless-client-dhcp" = lib.mkIf cfg.useDHCP {
+          # Like above, but this is much more likely to be correct.
+          matchConfig.WLANInterfaceType = "station";
+          DHCP = "yes";
+          linkConfig.RequiredForOnline = lib.mkDefault false;
+          # We also set the route metric to one more than the default
+          # of 1024, so that Ethernet is preferred if both are
+          # available.
+          dhcpV4Config.RouteMetric = 1025;
+          ipv6AcceptRAConfig.RouteMetric = 1025;
+        };
+      })
       (mkMerge (forEach interfaces (i: {
         netdevs = mkIf i.virtual ({
           "40-${i.name}" = {
diff --git a/nixos/modules/tasks/network-interfaces.nix b/nixos/modules/tasks/network-interfaces.nix
index d09e9b99248..d56159f1596 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/tasks/network-interfaces.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/tasks/network-interfaces.nix
@@ -1254,11 +1254,6 @@ in
         Whether to use DHCP to obtain an IP address and other
         configuration for all network interfaces that are not manually
         configured.
-
-        Using this option is highly discouraged and also incompatible with
-        <option>networking.useNetworkd</option>. Please use
-        <option>networking.interfaces.&lt;name&gt;.useDHCP</option> instead
-        and set this to false.
       '';
     };
 
diff --git a/nixos/tests/networking.nix b/nixos/tests/networking.nix
index a1150097a09..2cc1e9b0942 100644
--- a/nixos/tests/networking.nix
+++ b/nixos/tests/networking.nix
@@ -139,6 +139,26 @@ let
               client.wait_until_succeeds("ping -c 1 192.168.3.1")
         '';
     };
+    dhcpDefault = {
+      name = "useDHCP-by-default";
+      nodes.router = router;
+      nodes.client = { lib, ... }: {
+        # Disable test driver default config
+        networking.interfaces = lib.mkForce {};
+        networking.useNetworkd = networkd;
+        virtualisation.vlans = [ 1 ];
+      };
+      testScript = ''
+        start_all()
+        client.wait_for_unit("multi-user.target")
+        client.wait_until_succeeds("ip addr show dev eth1 | grep '192.168.1'")
+        client.shell_interact()
+        client.succeed("ping -c 1 192.168.1.1")
+        router.succeed("ping -c 1 192.168.1.1")
+        router.succeed("ping -c 1 192.168.1.2")
+        client.succeed("ping -c 1 192.168.1.2")
+      '';
+    };
     dhcpSimple = {
       name = "SimpleDHCP";
       nodes.router = router;