How to remove a swap partition in Linux

Swap partitions provide dedicated disk space used as overflow memory when physical RAM is exhausted. On modern Linux systems with ample RAM or a preferred swap file, an old or oversized swap partition can waste disk space that could otherwise be used for data or additional volumes.

The kernel exposes active swap areas through swapon and /proc/swaps, while partition layout is managed by tools such as lsblk, fdisk, and parted. Swap partitions are normally enabled at boot through an entry in /etc/fstab that references the underlying block device or its UUID, so both runtime state and configuration must be updated when removing swap.

Before modifying partitions, backups of important data and configuration files reduce the risk of data loss. Removing the wrong partition or leaving a stale swap entry in /etc/fstab can lead to boot errors or memory pressure under heavy workloads. The procedure uses sudo for elevated privileges and standard disk utilities commonly available on most Linux distributions.

Steps to safely remove a swap partition in Linux:

Check the currently active swap areas.
```
$ sudo swapon --show
NAME      TYPE      SIZE   USED PRIO
/dev/sda3 partition 8191M     0   -2
```
If no rows appear, no active swap is present and the partition might already be unused.

Display block devices and confirm which partition is marked as swap.

$ lsblk --fs
NAME   FSTYPE LABEL UUID                                 FSAVAIL FSUSE% MOUNTPOINTS
sda
├─sda1 ext4         5b0f2c8a-bc3c-4b0f-9f0a-1d6f7be1c111   40.2G    35% /
├─sda2 ext4         9d9f0a5b-0e30-4e41-b60c-2f1b33f7c222   89.5G    20% /home
└─sda3 swap         3c5b4f6e-7e3a-4f4d-8b7f-9e4a2e5f7333

Note the device name (for example /dev/sda3) or UUID of the swap partition for later steps.

Deactivate the swap partition so the kernel stops using it.
```
$ sudo swapoff /dev/sda3
```
Disabling swap on a system with very limited RAM can cause applications to fail under heavy load.

Verify that no swap area is still active.

$ swapon --show
$ free -h
               total        used        free      shared  buff/cache   available
Mem:            15Gi       2.0Gi        11Gi       200Mi       1.9Gi        12Gi
Swap:             0B          0B          0B

The absence of output from swapon --show and a zero-sized Swap row confirm that swap is fully disabled.

Create a backup copy of the existing /etc/fstab configuration.
```
$ sudo cp /etc/fstab /etc/fstab.backup.$(date +%F)
```
An incorrect /etc/fstab entry can prevent a system from booting until the file is repaired from a recovery environment.
Open /etc/fstab in a text editor with elevated privileges.
```
$ sudo nano /etc/fstab
```
Any preferred text editor such as vim or gedit can be used, provided it runs with root permissions.

Locate the line that configures the swap partition and comment it out or remove it.

# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# &lt;file system&gt; &lt;mount point&gt; &lt;type&gt; &lt;options&gt; &lt;dump&gt; &lt;pass&gt;
UUID=5b0f2c8a-bc3c-4b0f-9f0a-1d6f7be1c111 /     ext4  defaults  0 1
UUID=9d9f0a5b-0e30-4e41-b60c-2f1b33f7c222 /home ext4  defaults  0 2
UUID=3c5b4f6e-7e3a-4f4d-8b7f-9e4a2e5f7333 none  swap  sw        0 0

# Commented to remove swap partition
#UUID=3c5b4f6e-7e3a-4f4d-8b7f-9e4a2e5f7333 none  swap  sw        0 0

Leaving a swap entry that points to a deleted partition can cause slow boot with timeout errors or a failed mount message on every startup.

Save the modified /etc/fstab file and exit the editor.

In nano, use Ctrl+O to write the file, press Enter to confirm, and then use Ctrl+X to exit.

Start fdisk on the disk that contains the swap partition.

$ sudo fdisk /dev/sda
 
Welcome to fdisk (util-linux 2.38).
Changes will remain in memory only, until you decide to write them.
Be careful before using the write command.

Selecting the wrong disk (for example /dev/sdb instead of /dev/sda) can result in deleting partitions from the wrong drive.

Inside fdisk, list the existing partitions and confirm the number of the swap partition.

Command (m for help): p
 
Disk /dev/sda: 238.5 GiB, 256060514304 bytes, 500118192 sectors
Device     Boot Start       End   Sectors   Size Id Type
/dev/sda1  *     2048  84058111  84056064    40G 83 Linux
/dev/sda2     84058112 268435455 184377344   88G 83 Linux
/dev/sda3    268435456 285212671  167771216   8G 82 Linux swap / Solaris

Note the partition number (such as 3 for /dev/sda3) and confirm that its type is listed as swap.

Delete the swap partition from inside fdisk using its partition number.
```
Command (m for help): d
Partition number (1-3, default 3): 3
 
Partition 3 has been deleted.
```
Deleting the wrong partition can permanently remove data or make the operating system unbootable.
Write the updated partition table to disk and exit fdisk.
```
Command (m for help): w
The partition table has been altered.
Calling ioctl() to re-read partition table.
Syncing disks.
```
After writing changes, the removed partition cannot be recovered without specialized tools and prior backups.
Notify the kernel about the partition table change if required by the environment.
```
$ sudo partprobe /dev/sda
```
On many systems, udev and the kernel automatically detect the new partition layout, but running partprobe helps avoid stale views of the disk.

Optionally reuse the freed space by extending an adjacent partition with parted or a filesystem-specific tool.

$ sudo parted /dev/sda print free
Model: ATA Samsung SSD (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 256GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos
Disk Flags:
 
Number  Start   End     Size    Type     File system  Flags
 1      1049kB  43.0GB  43.0GB  primary  ext4         boot
 2      43.0GB  232GB   189GB   primary  ext4
        232GB   256GB   24.0GB           Free Space

Resizing partitions and filesystems without verified backups can cause irreversible data loss if interrupted or misconfigured.

Confirm that the swap partition is gone and no swap area remains active.

$ lsblk --fs
NAME   FSTYPE LABEL UUID                                 FSAVAIL FSUSE% MOUNTPOINTS
sda
├─sda1 ext4         5b0f2c8a-bc3c-4b0f-9f0a-1d6f7be1c111   40.2G    35% /
└─sda2 ext4         9d9f0a5b-0e30-4e41-b60c-2f1b33f7c222   89.5G    20% /home
 
$ swapon --show

The absence of a swap-typed partition in lsblk output and an empty swapon --show output confirm that the swap partition has been fully removed.

Author: Mohd Shakir Zakaria
Mohd Shakir Zakaria is a cloud architect with deep roots in software development and open-source advocacy. Certified in AWS, Red Hat, VMware, ITIL, and Linux, he specializes in designing and managing robust cloud and on-premises infrastructures.

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