No way to skip "waiting up to 60 more seconds for network configuration"

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

Agree that such issue should not be a show stopper, the system should be able to terminate its boot up; its easier to fix that issue then.
If that issue appear, the user should be able to skip it by hitting "Esc" key for example.
A temporary workaround is to install & use wicd (works smoother )

Just for noting:

I am in moment on Ubuntu 11.10 64bit with kernel3.0.16 and Atheros Tp-Link5008 which uses ath9k kernel driver.

The same there.

I've had this problem after configuring a secondary interface eth1 (USB Ethernet device), which was subsequently removed.

If /etc/network/interfaces contains "auto eth1" or any kind of "auto" stanza for a device that's not available, bootup will hang with "Waiting for Network Configuration", and then another 60 seconds waiting...

The problem was present in 11.10 and is still present in 12.04 upgraded from 11.10.

Please note also this thread:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1859799

People tried all kinds of funny things like messing with /run, /var/run, failsafe config until they found the solution...

I have Ubuntu 12.04 installed on my laptop, I only seem to get this when my ethernet cable (eth0) is unplugged regardless if my wireless switch is on and the icon is lit up.

Once I've logged in I can run '/etc/init.d/network-manager start' and use the wireless.

I have a firewire netowork cable whit fixed IP in /etc/network/interfaces, and have the same problem.
I do a workaround with this tip:

http://askubuntu.com/questions/185515/disable-network-configuration-services-during-boot-time

A better ideea than disabling the service is to remove the sleep time. To do this, open /etc/init/failsafe.conf with your favourite editor, and around line 25 you should see the following lines of code:

# Plymouth errors should not stop the script because we *must* reach
# the end of this script to avoid letting the system spin forever
# waiting on it to start.
$PLYMOUTH message –text=”Waiting for network configuration…” || :
sleep 40
$PLYMOUTH message –text=”Waiting up to 60 more seconds for network configuration…” || :
sleep 59
$PLYMOUTH message –text=”Booting system without full network configuration…” || :

To solve your problem, just comment the sleep times (add '#' in front of the text). It should look like this:

# Plymouth errors should not stop the script because we *must* reach
# the end of this script to avoid letting the system spin forever
# waiting on it to start.
$PLYMOUTH message –text=”Waiting for network configuration…” || :
#sleep 40
$PLYMOUTH message –text=”Waiting up to 60 more seconds for network configuration…” || :
#sleep 59
$PLYMOUTH message –text=”Booting system without full network configuration…” || :