Linux swap file creation and management





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4















I want to increase my swap size to be able to have the hibernate option. First, I tried to add some swapfile. I followed



https://bogdancornianu.com/change-swap-size-in-ubuntu/



and typed this in my terminal:



sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=swapfile bs=1G count=16


I get:



16+0 records in
16+0 records out
17179869184 bytes (17 GB, 16 GiB) copied, 206.949 s, 83.0 MB/s


then, I followed the instructions:



sudo mkswap /swapfile


But I get this error:



mkswap: cannot open /swapfile: No such file or directory


Then, I decided to resize my swap partition instead of swapfile. So I want to delete them. (I didn't create any before so I assume I can delete them all?)
I followed this:



https://askubuntu.com/questions/904628/default-17-04-swap-file-location



I tried:



$ cat /proc/swaps
$ grep swap /etc/fstab


But I get nothing from the first one. Output from the second one is:



              total        used        free      shared  buff/cache   
available
Mem: 11862 3498 1014 138 7349
7907
Swap: 0 0 0


I also tried (after reboot):



swapon -s


and get



Filename                Type        Size    Used    Priority
/dev/sdb3 partition 3905532 0 -2


I wonder that did I successfully create swapfiles? How do I delete them if I did?










share|improve this question




















  • 1





    Hello, our new contributor! Please read our guidelines, and maybe more important note: You should really really read properly what you are typing, there is no space for typos in Linux!

    – Vlastimil
    Mar 26 at 16:19


















4















I want to increase my swap size to be able to have the hibernate option. First, I tried to add some swapfile. I followed



https://bogdancornianu.com/change-swap-size-in-ubuntu/



and typed this in my terminal:



sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=swapfile bs=1G count=16


I get:



16+0 records in
16+0 records out
17179869184 bytes (17 GB, 16 GiB) copied, 206.949 s, 83.0 MB/s


then, I followed the instructions:



sudo mkswap /swapfile


But I get this error:



mkswap: cannot open /swapfile: No such file or directory


Then, I decided to resize my swap partition instead of swapfile. So I want to delete them. (I didn't create any before so I assume I can delete them all?)
I followed this:



https://askubuntu.com/questions/904628/default-17-04-swap-file-location



I tried:



$ cat /proc/swaps
$ grep swap /etc/fstab


But I get nothing from the first one. Output from the second one is:



              total        used        free      shared  buff/cache   
available
Mem: 11862 3498 1014 138 7349
7907
Swap: 0 0 0


I also tried (after reboot):



swapon -s


and get



Filename                Type        Size    Used    Priority
/dev/sdb3 partition 3905532 0 -2


I wonder that did I successfully create swapfiles? How do I delete them if I did?










share|improve this question




















  • 1





    Hello, our new contributor! Please read our guidelines, and maybe more important note: You should really really read properly what you are typing, there is no space for typos in Linux!

    – Vlastimil
    Mar 26 at 16:19














4












4








4








I want to increase my swap size to be able to have the hibernate option. First, I tried to add some swapfile. I followed



https://bogdancornianu.com/change-swap-size-in-ubuntu/



and typed this in my terminal:



sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=swapfile bs=1G count=16


I get:



16+0 records in
16+0 records out
17179869184 bytes (17 GB, 16 GiB) copied, 206.949 s, 83.0 MB/s


then, I followed the instructions:



sudo mkswap /swapfile


But I get this error:



mkswap: cannot open /swapfile: No such file or directory


Then, I decided to resize my swap partition instead of swapfile. So I want to delete them. (I didn't create any before so I assume I can delete them all?)
I followed this:



https://askubuntu.com/questions/904628/default-17-04-swap-file-location



I tried:



$ cat /proc/swaps
$ grep swap /etc/fstab


But I get nothing from the first one. Output from the second one is:



              total        used        free      shared  buff/cache   
available
Mem: 11862 3498 1014 138 7349
7907
Swap: 0 0 0


I also tried (after reboot):



swapon -s


and get



Filename                Type        Size    Used    Priority
/dev/sdb3 partition 3905532 0 -2


I wonder that did I successfully create swapfiles? How do I delete them if I did?










share|improve this question
















I want to increase my swap size to be able to have the hibernate option. First, I tried to add some swapfile. I followed



https://bogdancornianu.com/change-swap-size-in-ubuntu/



and typed this in my terminal:



sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=swapfile bs=1G count=16


I get:



16+0 records in
16+0 records out
17179869184 bytes (17 GB, 16 GiB) copied, 206.949 s, 83.0 MB/s


then, I followed the instructions:



sudo mkswap /swapfile


But I get this error:



mkswap: cannot open /swapfile: No such file or directory


Then, I decided to resize my swap partition instead of swapfile. So I want to delete them. (I didn't create any before so I assume I can delete them all?)
I followed this:



https://askubuntu.com/questions/904628/default-17-04-swap-file-location



I tried:



$ cat /proc/swaps
$ grep swap /etc/fstab


But I get nothing from the first one. Output from the second one is:



              total        used        free      shared  buff/cache   
available
Mem: 11862 3498 1014 138 7349
7907
Swap: 0 0 0


I also tried (after reboot):



swapon -s


and get



Filename                Type        Size    Used    Priority
/dev/sdb3 partition 3905532 0 -2


I wonder that did I successfully create swapfiles? How do I delete them if I did?







swap






share|improve this question















share|improve this question













share|improve this question




share|improve this question








edited Mar 27 at 16:08









DopeGhoti

46.9k56190




46.9k56190










asked Mar 26 at 15:57









Frank WangFrank Wang

233




233








  • 1





    Hello, our new contributor! Please read our guidelines, and maybe more important note: You should really really read properly what you are typing, there is no space for typos in Linux!

    – Vlastimil
    Mar 26 at 16:19














  • 1





    Hello, our new contributor! Please read our guidelines, and maybe more important note: You should really really read properly what you are typing, there is no space for typos in Linux!

    – Vlastimil
    Mar 26 at 16:19








1




1





Hello, our new contributor! Please read our guidelines, and maybe more important note: You should really really read properly what you are typing, there is no space for typos in Linux!

– Vlastimil
Mar 26 at 16:19





Hello, our new contributor! Please read our guidelines, and maybe more important note: You should really really read properly what you are typing, there is no space for typos in Linux!

– Vlastimil
Mar 26 at 16:19










3 Answers
3






active

oldest

votes


















9














The first issue is that your first command created a file, swapfile, in your current directory, and that your subsequent command(s) were explicitly referencing /swapfile, a file called swapfile in the root directory. If that was not your current working directory when you executed the first command, all of the subsequent commands would be referring to a file that is not there to operate upon.



If you got no output from cat /proc/swaps, that indicates that either your system does not have procfs running (unlikely), or that you currently have no active swap space configured.



The output you claim to get from grep swap /etc/fstab makes no sense whatsoever. That looks like the output of free -m (incidentally confirming that you have no active swap configured), not the partial contents of the filesystem table.



Your post-reboot swapon -s (which as the manual states gives the same information as cat /proc/swaps) indicates that at some point prior to your reboot, someone executed swapoff.






share|improve this answer


























  • Got it! I found the swapfile in ~/, since I didn't cd to any other directory. So can I just remove it with rm command? Thank you!

    – Frank Wang
    Mar 28 at 15:04






  • 1





    You can indeed, or you can mv it to where you intended it to be if you haven't already started over from the correct directory.

    – DopeGhoti
    Mar 28 at 15:34



















4














You made a typo:



of=swapfile


should be



of=/swapfile


the guide creates the swap file in the root directory, whereas the command that you entered would have created a swap file in your current directory.






share|improve this answer































    1














    Delete the swapfile(s) by



    sudo swapoff -v /?/swapfile 


    where /? represents the directory where you inadvertently created an extra swapfile.



    sudo nano /etc/fstab 


    allows you to edit fstab where you can delete any reference to /?/swapfile



    sudo rm /?/swapfile


    deletes the spurious swapfile.






    share|improve this answer
























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      3 Answers
      3






      active

      oldest

      votes








      3 Answers
      3






      active

      oldest

      votes









      active

      oldest

      votes






      active

      oldest

      votes









      9














      The first issue is that your first command created a file, swapfile, in your current directory, and that your subsequent command(s) were explicitly referencing /swapfile, a file called swapfile in the root directory. If that was not your current working directory when you executed the first command, all of the subsequent commands would be referring to a file that is not there to operate upon.



      If you got no output from cat /proc/swaps, that indicates that either your system does not have procfs running (unlikely), or that you currently have no active swap space configured.



      The output you claim to get from grep swap /etc/fstab makes no sense whatsoever. That looks like the output of free -m (incidentally confirming that you have no active swap configured), not the partial contents of the filesystem table.



      Your post-reboot swapon -s (which as the manual states gives the same information as cat /proc/swaps) indicates that at some point prior to your reboot, someone executed swapoff.






      share|improve this answer


























      • Got it! I found the swapfile in ~/, since I didn't cd to any other directory. So can I just remove it with rm command? Thank you!

        – Frank Wang
        Mar 28 at 15:04






      • 1





        You can indeed, or you can mv it to where you intended it to be if you haven't already started over from the correct directory.

        – DopeGhoti
        Mar 28 at 15:34
















      9














      The first issue is that your first command created a file, swapfile, in your current directory, and that your subsequent command(s) were explicitly referencing /swapfile, a file called swapfile in the root directory. If that was not your current working directory when you executed the first command, all of the subsequent commands would be referring to a file that is not there to operate upon.



      If you got no output from cat /proc/swaps, that indicates that either your system does not have procfs running (unlikely), or that you currently have no active swap space configured.



      The output you claim to get from grep swap /etc/fstab makes no sense whatsoever. That looks like the output of free -m (incidentally confirming that you have no active swap configured), not the partial contents of the filesystem table.



      Your post-reboot swapon -s (which as the manual states gives the same information as cat /proc/swaps) indicates that at some point prior to your reboot, someone executed swapoff.






      share|improve this answer


























      • Got it! I found the swapfile in ~/, since I didn't cd to any other directory. So can I just remove it with rm command? Thank you!

        – Frank Wang
        Mar 28 at 15:04






      • 1





        You can indeed, or you can mv it to where you intended it to be if you haven't already started over from the correct directory.

        – DopeGhoti
        Mar 28 at 15:34














      9












      9








      9







      The first issue is that your first command created a file, swapfile, in your current directory, and that your subsequent command(s) were explicitly referencing /swapfile, a file called swapfile in the root directory. If that was not your current working directory when you executed the first command, all of the subsequent commands would be referring to a file that is not there to operate upon.



      If you got no output from cat /proc/swaps, that indicates that either your system does not have procfs running (unlikely), or that you currently have no active swap space configured.



      The output you claim to get from grep swap /etc/fstab makes no sense whatsoever. That looks like the output of free -m (incidentally confirming that you have no active swap configured), not the partial contents of the filesystem table.



      Your post-reboot swapon -s (which as the manual states gives the same information as cat /proc/swaps) indicates that at some point prior to your reboot, someone executed swapoff.






      share|improve this answer















      The first issue is that your first command created a file, swapfile, in your current directory, and that your subsequent command(s) were explicitly referencing /swapfile, a file called swapfile in the root directory. If that was not your current working directory when you executed the first command, all of the subsequent commands would be referring to a file that is not there to operate upon.



      If you got no output from cat /proc/swaps, that indicates that either your system does not have procfs running (unlikely), or that you currently have no active swap space configured.



      The output you claim to get from grep swap /etc/fstab makes no sense whatsoever. That looks like the output of free -m (incidentally confirming that you have no active swap configured), not the partial contents of the filesystem table.



      Your post-reboot swapon -s (which as the manual states gives the same information as cat /proc/swaps) indicates that at some point prior to your reboot, someone executed swapoff.







      share|improve this answer














      share|improve this answer



      share|improve this answer








      edited Mar 26 at 20:40

























      answered Mar 26 at 16:03









      DopeGhotiDopeGhoti

      46.9k56190




      46.9k56190













      • Got it! I found the swapfile in ~/, since I didn't cd to any other directory. So can I just remove it with rm command? Thank you!

        – Frank Wang
        Mar 28 at 15:04






      • 1





        You can indeed, or you can mv it to where you intended it to be if you haven't already started over from the correct directory.

        – DopeGhoti
        Mar 28 at 15:34



















      • Got it! I found the swapfile in ~/, since I didn't cd to any other directory. So can I just remove it with rm command? Thank you!

        – Frank Wang
        Mar 28 at 15:04






      • 1





        You can indeed, or you can mv it to where you intended it to be if you haven't already started over from the correct directory.

        – DopeGhoti
        Mar 28 at 15:34

















      Got it! I found the swapfile in ~/, since I didn't cd to any other directory. So can I just remove it with rm command? Thank you!

      – Frank Wang
      Mar 28 at 15:04





      Got it! I found the swapfile in ~/, since I didn't cd to any other directory. So can I just remove it with rm command? Thank you!

      – Frank Wang
      Mar 28 at 15:04




      1




      1





      You can indeed, or you can mv it to where you intended it to be if you haven't already started over from the correct directory.

      – DopeGhoti
      Mar 28 at 15:34





      You can indeed, or you can mv it to where you intended it to be if you haven't already started over from the correct directory.

      – DopeGhoti
      Mar 28 at 15:34













      4














      You made a typo:



      of=swapfile


      should be



      of=/swapfile


      the guide creates the swap file in the root directory, whereas the command that you entered would have created a swap file in your current directory.






      share|improve this answer




























        4














        You made a typo:



        of=swapfile


        should be



        of=/swapfile


        the guide creates the swap file in the root directory, whereas the command that you entered would have created a swap file in your current directory.






        share|improve this answer


























          4












          4








          4







          You made a typo:



          of=swapfile


          should be



          of=/swapfile


          the guide creates the swap file in the root directory, whereas the command that you entered would have created a swap file in your current directory.






          share|improve this answer













          You made a typo:



          of=swapfile


          should be



          of=/swapfile


          the guide creates the swap file in the root directory, whereas the command that you entered would have created a swap file in your current directory.







          share|improve this answer












          share|improve this answer



          share|improve this answer










          answered Mar 26 at 16:02









          JShorthouseJShorthouse

          52328




          52328























              1














              Delete the swapfile(s) by



              sudo swapoff -v /?/swapfile 


              where /? represents the directory where you inadvertently created an extra swapfile.



              sudo nano /etc/fstab 


              allows you to edit fstab where you can delete any reference to /?/swapfile



              sudo rm /?/swapfile


              deletes the spurious swapfile.






              share|improve this answer




























                1














                Delete the swapfile(s) by



                sudo swapoff -v /?/swapfile 


                where /? represents the directory where you inadvertently created an extra swapfile.



                sudo nano /etc/fstab 


                allows you to edit fstab where you can delete any reference to /?/swapfile



                sudo rm /?/swapfile


                deletes the spurious swapfile.






                share|improve this answer


























                  1












                  1








                  1







                  Delete the swapfile(s) by



                  sudo swapoff -v /?/swapfile 


                  where /? represents the directory where you inadvertently created an extra swapfile.



                  sudo nano /etc/fstab 


                  allows you to edit fstab where you can delete any reference to /?/swapfile



                  sudo rm /?/swapfile


                  deletes the spurious swapfile.






                  share|improve this answer













                  Delete the swapfile(s) by



                  sudo swapoff -v /?/swapfile 


                  where /? represents the directory where you inadvertently created an extra swapfile.



                  sudo nano /etc/fstab 


                  allows you to edit fstab where you can delete any reference to /?/swapfile



                  sudo rm /?/swapfile


                  deletes the spurious swapfile.







                  share|improve this answer












                  share|improve this answer



                  share|improve this answer










                  answered Mar 26 at 18:43









                  K7AAYK7AAY

                  1,0221028




                  1,0221028






























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