Change swap size in Ubuntu 18.04 or newer

[Updated July 26, 2020]: Change swapfile permission; Set swapfile in /etc/fstab.

Swap is a special area on your computer, which the operating system can use as additional RAM.

Starting with Ubuntu 17.04, the swap partition was replaced by a swap file. The main advantage of the swap file is easy resizing.

Note: before running the following commands, please make sure you have a backup of your data!

In the following example, we’ll extend the swap space available in the /swapfile from 4 GB to 8 GB.

• Turn off all swap processes

sudo swapoff -a

• Resize the swap

sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=/swapfile bs=1G count=8

if = input file

of = output file

bs = block size

count = multiplier of blocks

• Change permission

sudo chmod 600 /swapfile

• Make the file usable as swap

sudo mkswap /swapfile

• Activate the swap file

sudo swapon /swapfile

• Edit /etc/fstab and add the new swapfile if it isn’t already there

/swapfile none swap sw 0 0

• Check the amount of swap available

grep SwapTotal /proc/meminfo

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