# Creating Swapfile Btrfs **URL:** \ **Category:** Newbie\ **Created:** [May 23, 2022, 2:40pm UTC](https://forum.endeavouros.com/t/creating-swapfile-btrfs/27364 "2022-05-23T14:40:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![VolantesMagus](https://forum.endeavouros.com/user_avatar/forum.endeavouros.com/volantesmagus/32/49259_2.png) [@VolantesMagus](https://forum.endeavouros.com/u/VolantesMagus)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2022, 2:40pm UTC](https://forum.endeavouros.com/t/creating-swapfile-btrfs/27364/1 "2022-05-23T14:40:46Z")
1. sudo btrfs subvolume create @swap 2. sudo mkdir /swap 3. sudo mount -o subvol=@swap /dev/XXX /swap ## replace XXX with your actual partition for example sda2, nvme0n1p2 4. cd /swap 5. sudo truncate -s 0 swapfile 6. sudo chattr +C swapfile 7. sudo btrfs property set swapfile compression none 8. sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=swapfile bs=1M count=512 status=progress 9. sudo chmod 600 swapfile 10. sudo mkswap swapfile 11. sudo swapon swapfile 12. Now Edit the /etc/fstab and add the following two lines: UUID=NNNN /swap btrfs subvol=@swap ## replace NNNN with the UUID of the partition where @swap resides /swap/swapfile none swap defaults 0 0 * * * I have been trying to follow the guide above but it seems I am doing something wrong, as far as I see I created the @swap subvolume and its inside / Once I get to the 3rd command its not working the way it is probably supposed to or I am doing something wrong. nvme0n1 is the drive/partition? I have eos installed on, when I run ls in my root directory after I create the btrfs @swap subvolume I get: ```auto bin dev home lib64 opt root sbin @swap sys usr boot etc lib mnt proc run srv swap tmp var ``` Is @swap supposed to be there? lsblk: ```auto seb@PrimeCore/ lsblk NAME MAJ:MIN RM SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINTS sda 8:0 0 465.8G 0 disk ├─sda1 8:1 0 1K 0 part └─sda5 8:5 0 465.8G 0 part sdb 8:16 0 223.6G 0 disk ├─sdb1 8:17 0 500M 0 part └─sdb2 8:18 0 223.1G 0 part sdc 8:32 0 1.8T 0 disk └─sdc1 8:33 0 1.8T 0 part /mnt/diamond-drive sdd 8:48 0 3.6T 0 disk └─sdd1 8:49 0 3.6T 0 part /mnt/titan-drive nvme0n1 259:0 0 931.5G 0 disk ├─nvme0n1p1 259:1 0 300M 0 part /boot/efi ├─nvme0n1p2 259:2 0 922.4G 0 part /var/log │ /home │ /var/cache │ / └─nvme0n1p3 259:3 0 8.8G 0 part ``` I tried running the 3rd command from the guide and tried different partitions I dont know what I am doing wrong here… ```auto sudo mount -o subvol=@swap /dev/nvme0n1p2 /swap mount: /swap: mount(2) system call failed: No such file or directory. dmesg(1) may have more information after failed mount system call. sudo mount -o subvol=@swap /dev/nvme0n1 /swap mount: /swap: /dev/nvme0n1 already mounted or mount point busy. dmesg(1) may have more information after failed mount system call. ``` Is this maybe not the best guide or am I more likely doing something wrong? ---
**Author:** ![dalto](https://forum.endeavouros.com/user_avatar/forum.endeavouros.com/dalto/32/5577_2.png) [@dalto](https://forum.endeavouros.com/u/dalto)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2022, 2:52pm UTC](https://forum.endeavouros.com/t/creating-swapfile-btrfs/27364/2 "2022-05-23T14:52:45Z")
> [@VolantesMagus](#): > > when I run ls in my root directory after I create the btrfs @swap subvolume I get: This is the wrong “root”. That command needs to be run in the root of your btrfs partition which you may not have mounted. You can mount it like this: ```plaintext sudo mkdir /mnt/btrfs sudo mount /dev/nvme0n1p2 /mnt/btrfs -o subvolid=5 ``` ---
**Author:** ![VolantesMagus](https://forum.endeavouros.com/user_avatar/forum.endeavouros.com/volantesmagus/32/49259_2.png) [@VolantesMagus](https://forum.endeavouros.com/u/VolantesMagus)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2022, 3:29pm UTC](https://forum.endeavouros.com/t/creating-swapfile-btrfs/27364/3 "2022-05-23T15:29:50Z")
I dont quite understand this, this is really confusing, once I mount it do I just do cd /mnt/btrfs then create the swap subvolume there? ---
**Author:** ![dalto](https://forum.endeavouros.com/user_avatar/forum.endeavouros.com/dalto/32/5577_2.png) [@dalto](https://forum.endeavouros.com/u/dalto)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2022, 3:30pm UTC](https://forum.endeavouros.com/t/creating-swapfile-btrfs/27364/4 "2022-05-23T15:30:41Z")
> [@VolantesMagus](#): > > I dont quite understand this, this is really confusing One word is being used for two different things. The “root” of your filesystem(aka `/`) is mounted on a subvolume not the “root” of the btrfs partition. Those instructions want you to create a subvolume at the root of the partition. > [@VolantesMagus](#): > > do I just do cd /mnt/btrfs then create the swap subvolume there? Yes. That is correct. ---
**Author:** ![VolantesMagus](https://forum.endeavouros.com/user_avatar/forum.endeavouros.com/volantesmagus/32/49259_2.png) [@VolantesMagus](https://forum.endeavouros.com/u/VolantesMagus)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2022, 3:33pm UTC](https://forum.endeavouros.com/t/creating-swapfile-btrfs/27364/5 "2022-05-23T15:33:36Z")
sudo mount -o subvol=@swap /dev/nvme0n1 /swap then I run this while still in the /mnt/btrfs directory? then just continue with the rest of the steps? ---
**Author:** ![dalto](https://forum.endeavouros.com/user_avatar/forum.endeavouros.com/dalto/32/5577_2.png) [@dalto](https://forum.endeavouros.com/u/dalto)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2022, 3:34pm UTC](https://forum.endeavouros.com/t/creating-swapfile-btrfs/27364/6 "2022-05-23T15:34:09Z")
> [@VolantesMagus](#): > > sudo mount -o subvol=@swap /dev/nvme0n1 /swap > > then I run this while still in the /mnt/btrfs directory? then just continue with the rest of the steps? You can run that command from anywhere. The rest of the steps should work now. ---
**Author:** ![VolantesMagus](https://forum.endeavouros.com/user_avatar/forum.endeavouros.com/volantesmagus/32/49259_2.png) [@VolantesMagus](https://forum.endeavouros.com/u/VolantesMagus)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2022, 3:40pm UTC](https://forum.endeavouros.com/t/creating-swapfile-btrfs/27364/8 "2022-05-23T15:40:57Z")
```auto seb@PrimeCore/swap sudo btrfs property set swapfile compression none swapfile compression none ERROR: failed to set compression for swapfile: Invalid argument ``` ---
**Author:** ![dalto](https://forum.endeavouros.com/user_avatar/forum.endeavouros.com/dalto/32/5577_2.png) [@dalto](https://forum.endeavouros.com/u/dalto)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2022, 3:42pm UTC](https://forum.endeavouros.com/t/creating-swapfile-btrfs/27364/9 "2022-05-23T15:42:16Z")
> [@VolantesMagus](#): > > ```plaintext > sudo btrfs property set swapfile compression none swapfile compression none > > ``` did you double copy/paste there? There is too much command. ---
**Author:** ![VolantesMagus](https://forum.endeavouros.com/user_avatar/forum.endeavouros.com/volantesmagus/32/49259_2.png) [@VolantesMagus](https://forum.endeavouros.com/u/VolantesMagus)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2022, 3:44pm UTC](https://forum.endeavouros.com/t/creating-swapfile-btrfs/27364/10 "2022-05-23T15:44:56Z")
```auto 1. sudo btrfs property set swapfile compression none ERROR: failed to set compression for swapfile: Invalid argument ``` Sorry it just does that in my terminal, something wrong with the terminal due to zsh, I dont know why it does that but the command was entered properly ---
**Author:** ![VolantesMagus](https://forum.endeavouros.com/user_avatar/forum.endeavouros.com/volantesmagus/32/49259_2.png) [@VolantesMagus](https://forum.endeavouros.com/u/VolantesMagus)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2022, 3:54pm UTC](https://forum.endeavouros.com/t/creating-swapfile-btrfs/27364/11 "2022-05-23T15:54:32Z")
Its actually something to do with alacritty, I switched to konsole and tried the command in that, here is what I get: ```auto seb@PrimeCore~ cd /swap seb@PrimeCore/swap sudo btrfs property set ./swapfile compression none [sudo] password for seb: ERROR: failed to set compression for ./swapfile: Invalid argument seb@PrimeCore/swap ``` ---
**Author:** ![Kresimir](https://forum.endeavouros.com/user_avatar/forum.endeavouros.com/kresimir/32/73739_2.png) [@Kresimir](https://forum.endeavouros.com/u/Kresimir)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2022, 6:01pm UTC](https://forum.endeavouros.com/t/creating-swapfile-btrfs/27364/12 "2022-05-23T18:01:39Z")
Either type out the command, or paste it in a text editor and edit it before pasting it in the terminal emulator. ---
**Author:** ![dalto](https://forum.endeavouros.com/user_avatar/forum.endeavouros.com/dalto/32/5577_2.png) [@dalto](https://forum.endeavouros.com/u/dalto)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2022, 12:59pm UTC](https://forum.endeavouros.com/t/creating-swapfile-btrfs/27364/13 "2022-05-24T12:59:29Z")
I think this is actually a btrfs issue/change. After disabling CoW, the compression property is no longer available. ---
**Author:** ![dalto](https://forum.endeavouros.com/user_avatar/forum.endeavouros.com/dalto/32/5577_2.png) [@dalto](https://forum.endeavouros.com/u/dalto)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2022, 4:14pm UTC](https://forum.endeavouros.com/t/creating-swapfile-btrfs/27364/14 "2022-05-24T16:14:50Z")
It looks like this step is no longer needed. btrfs now disables compression when CoW is disabled. [https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=0e852ab8974cd2b5946766b2d9baf82c78ace03d](https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=0e852ab8974cd2b5946766b2d9baf82c78ace03d)