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Aikufurr/hibernation.md

Created November 17, 2021 19:07
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How to add hibernation to Arch Linux using a swapfile
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hibernation.md
  1. Run as root
sudo su
  1. Create swap file

Note: set count to your RAM capacity + 2, eg 8GB RAM so count=10

dd if=/dev/zero of=/swapfile bs=1G count=10 status=progress
chmod 600 /swapfile
mkswap /swapfile 
echo "/swapfile none swap sw 0 0" | tee -a /etc/fstab
mount -a
swapon -a
  1. Find the swap device

This will be referred to as SWAP_DEVICE later on

findmnt -no UUID -T /swapfile
  1. Find the swap file offset

This will be referred to as SWAP_FILE_OFFSET later on

filefrag -v /swapfile | awk '{ if($1=="0:"){print substr($4, 1, length($4)-2)} }'
  1. Configure GRUB
nano /etc/default/grub

On line GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT Append in the speech marks:

resume=UUID=SWAP_DEVICE resume_offset=SWAP_FILE_OFFSET

Exit and save

Update GRUB

grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg
  1. Configure the initial ramdisk
nano /etc/mkinitcpio.conf

On HOOKS=(base udev ... filesystems fsck) After filesystems add resume Example:

HOOKS=(base udev ... filesystems resume fsck)

Exit and save

Generate initial ramdisk

mkinitcpio -P
  1. Reboot
shutdown now -r
@Aikufurr
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Aikufurr commented Jul 11, 2025

I've since moved to NixOS and with this guide being 4yo my memory is a bit flaky, but:

Check if the swap has been activated

swapon --show
cat /proc/swaps

If nothing shows, activate it:
swapon /swapfile

Check the resume and resume_offset parameters in /etc/default/grub match the correct UUID and offset for the swapfile:

  • UUID: findmnt -no UUID -T /swapfile
  • Offset: filefrag -v /swapfile | awk '{ if($1=="0:"){print substr($4, 1, length($4)-2)} }'.

Example config in /etc/default/grub
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash resume=UUID=123e4567-e89b-12d3-a456-426614174000 resume_offset=123456"
Then regenerate GRUB config: grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg.

Check that the resume hook is correctly placed in /etc/mkinitcpio.conf (after filesystems but before fsck):
HOOKS=(base udev ... filesystems resume fsck)
Regenerate the initramfs:
mkinitcpio -P

Make sure to reboot afterwards and check to see if hibernation works.

Personally, I've moved to using a swap partition over a swapfile so if this doesn't work I'd recommend looking into swap partitions.

@jackpurrin
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jackpurrin commented Jul 11, 2025 •
edited
Loading 

NAME       TYPE      SIZE USED PRIO
/swapfile  file       10G   0B   -2
/dev/zram0 partition 3.6G   0B   10
Filename				Type		Size		Used		Priority
/swapfile                               file		10485756	0		-2
/dev/zram0                              partition	3765756		0		10

That's for swapon --show and cat /proc/swaps

Before I did a swapfile, i was getting the same error, so i thought using a swapfile could fix it.

I use Limine instead of GRUB, but I still can get the cmdline: .... working properly.

I can confirm the options are there and correct!
resume=9f20baa2-8b35-4599-9b4f-cceb6eaed770 resume_offset=11370496

findmnt -no UUID -T /swapfile

9f20baa2-8b35-4599-9b4f-cceb6eaed770

filefrag -v /swapfile | awk '{ if($1=="0:"){print substr($4, 1, length($4)-2)} }'

11370496

My HOOKS are also set correctly,

HOOKS=(base udev autodetect microcode modconf kms keyboard keymap consolefont block filesystems resume fsck)

@fiskhest
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fiskhest commented Jul 27, 2025 •
edited
Loading

resume=9f20baa2-8b35-4599-9b4f-cceb6eaed770

I think it should be configured resume=UUID=9f20baa2-8b35-4599-9b4f-cceb6eaed770, verbatim

@jackpurrin
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jackpurrin commented Jul 27, 2025

without the resume offset? i'm using a swapfile!

@fiskhest
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fiskhest commented Jul 27, 2025

🤦 I was merely pointing out that your resume parameter was missing the UUID=portion.

I can confirm the options are there and correct!
resume=9f20baa2-8b35-4599-9b4f-cceb6eaed770 resume_offset=11370496

That is not correct. This is:

resume=UUID=9f20baa2-8b35-4599-9b4f-cceb6eaed770 resume_offset=11370496

@jackpurrin
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jackpurrin commented Jul 27, 2025

ohhhh, i'll try that out! thanks!

@jackpurrin
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jackpurrin commented Jul 27, 2025

I HAVE TO THANK YOU A MILLION TIMES OVER, THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!
i spent so much time trying to do it over and over just to fix it and it turns out all i was missing was a silly word....

@fiskhest
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fiskhest commented Jul 27, 2025

🥳Devil's in the details 😅

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