[How to] Enable swapfile on LibreELEC

**Iridium** · April 14, 2019 at 6:09 PM Official Post

From @escalade in Remix

By default LibreELEC does not have a swapfile.

You can enable a swapfile by:

cp /etc/swap.conf /storage/.config

then edit it and change

SWAP_ENABLED="no" to SWAP_ENABLED="yes".

SWAPFILESIZE="128" to your required swapfile size - normally 4 x RAM but RAM should be enough for a normal LE system.

When you reboot, a swapfile the size of SWAPFILESIZE is generated in /storage/.config/swapfile.

edjalmo · April 14, 2019 at 7:45 PM

I'm using LibreELEC in a RPi 3b, and I've learned now about what's swap is!

So, I will using for sure (since some time my machine freezes [but this is because of some addons that I use ˆˆ])

What do you recommend for swap size here? I read about 2 x RAM. So If I want this, I'll put SWAPFILESIZE="2000"?

Thanks for this "How to"

edjalmo · April 14, 2019 at 7:57 PM

Quote from Iridium

You can enable a swapfile by:

cp /etc/swap.conf to /storage/.config

This did not work (At least not here in RPi). What worked here was just cp /etc/swap.conf /storage/.config

Edit: Or maybe you are just saying to copy the files, not a command , sorry!

edjalmo · April 14, 2019 at 8:04 PM

Hey, and if, for some reason, I want to undo swapfile I just need delete the file and reboot?

**Iridium** · April 15, 2019 at 9:34 AM Official Post

1. My mistake. Should have been a command (Edited original post)

2. Start with RAM size and see how it grows. Increase as necessary.

3. Just delete /storage/.config/swap.conf and reboot to remove the swapfile

marcogomes · May 10, 2019 at 1:59 AM

I tried this, but looks like the file is protected somehow. My LibreELEC installation is brand new on a RPi3.

Nano says:

[ File '/etc/swap.conf' is unwritable ]

edjalmo · May 10, 2019 at 3:30 AM

Quote from marcogomes

I tried this, but looks like the file is protected somehow. My LibreELEC installation is brand new on a RPi3.

Nano says:

[ File '/etc/swap.conf' is unwritable ]

You have to edit /storage/.config/swap.conf and not /etc/swap.conf

bluenote · February 9, 2020 at 1:05 AM

Thanks for this, going to try to alleviate my pi 4 crashes.

extremeaudio · March 29, 2021 at 2:45 PM

Hi, I created the swap file. And then deleted the file. But my sd card is still smaller in size as much as the swap size chosen, how do I reclaim the space now that swap file is deleted?

**Klojum** · March 29, 2021 at 2:51 PM Official Post

Quote from extremeaudio

I created the swap file.

Just some basic question. How and where did you create the swap file?

If you delete a file, it depends on the OS used if the file is fully deleted.

It might still reside somewhere in a trash can.

extremeaudio · March 29, 2021 at 2:56 PM

I used this command to create the swap file, and set the swap size to 2000, which is 2 gigs I suppose

Code

cp /etc/swap.conf /storage/.config

and then merely deleted the swap.conf from .config to disable swap file