# "How do I increase the inotify limit to get my filesystem watcher to work?"
**URL:** https://forum.syncthing.net/t/how-do-i-increase-the-inotify-limit-to-get-my-filesystem-watcher-to-work/26189
**Category:** Support
**Created:** [February 25, 2026, 1:53pm UTC](https://forum.syncthing.net/t/how-do-i-increase-the-inotify-limit-to-get-my-filesystem-watcher-to-work/26189 "2026-02-25T13:53:45Z")
**Posts on this page:** 4
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@da5nsy](https://forum.syncthing.net/u/da5nsy)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2026, 1:53pm UTC](https://forum.syncthing.net/t/how-do-i-increase-the-inotify-limit-to-get-my-filesystem-watcher-to-work/26189/1 "2026-02-25T13:53:45Z")
Hey! New user here, and I’m seeing:
> Failed to start filesystem watcher for folder yourLabel (yourID): failed to set up inotify handler. Please increase inotify limits, see [https://docs.syncthing.net/users/faq.html#inotify-limits](https://docs.syncthing.net/users/faq.html#inotify-limits)
which from searching this forum seems to be a common site.
I’m a little confused though, because I only have 4 folders.
> number of watches per user (usually 8192)
Is it 1 folder = 1 watch? Is it 1 file = 1 watch? How can one find out what the current restriction is?
(Meta: can I add this info to the docs?)
Also, I think (but I’m not sure, how would I know? I refreshed the web-ui and nothing changed, I had to manually re-scan to see new files) that `echo 204800 | sudo tee /proc/sys/fs/inotify/max_user_watches` didn’t do anything for me, is there a typo in that line, or does that only work for certain systems?
---
### Author:  [@Nummer378](https://forum.syncthing.net/u/Nummer378)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2026, 2:31pm UTC](https://forum.syncthing.net/t/how-do-i-increase-the-inotify-limit-to-get-my-filesystem-watcher-to-work/26189/2 "2026-02-25T14:31:51Z")
> [@da5nsy](#):
>
> (Meta: can I add this info to the docs?)
The docs are open source, anyone can submit contributions to it through GitHub: [GitHub - syncthing/docs: Documentation site](https://github.com/syncthing/docs)
> [@da5nsy](#):
>
> I’m a little confused though, because I only have 4 folders.
>
> > number of watches per user (usually 8192)
>
> Is it 1 folder = 1 watch? Is it 1 file = 1 watch?
The docs mean actual filesystem folders, not “syncthing-folders”. The kernel’s inotify system allows a process to watch for events (file changes) on individual files or directories. However, the latter is not recursive so if I have the following directory structure:
```plaintext
example
├── 1
│ └── foobar.txt
├── 2
│ └── myfile.png
└── 3
└── other_data.bin
4 directories, 3 files
```
Then that’s 4 watches: Syncthing watches the top-level folder “example” to see if any new folders or files are added at the same level as 1,2,3, but it also watches folders 1, 2 and 3 individually to check if files and folders are added/removed/changed within them.
> [@da5nsy](#):
>
> How can one find out what the current restriction is?
The current per-user limit should be in the (virtual) file `cat /proc/sys/fs/inotify/max_user_watches`. If you change the limit, it will take a moment to become effective. Syncthing needs to retry setting up the watches, so either rescan all folders or restart syncthing entirely. Refreshing the GUI does absolutely nothing for syncthing.
---
### Author:  [@da5nsy](https://forum.syncthing.net/u/da5nsy)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2026, 2:02am UTC](https://forum.syncthing.net/t/how-do-i-increase-the-inotify-limit-to-get-my-filesystem-watcher-to-work/26189/3 "2026-02-27T02:02:10Z")
Thank you @Nummer378!
~~With what you’ve told me, I’m a bit confused as to why I saw the warnings.~~
~~I think this status panel is showing me that I have 124 watches. Nowhere near 8192…~~
I ran `curl -s https://raw.githubusercontent.com/fatso83/dotfiles/master/utils/scripts/inotify-consumers | bash` from [here](https://stackoverflow.com/a/60705427), to see what else was using watches…
```plaintext
INOTIFY INSTANCES
WATCHES PER
COUNT PROCESS PID USER COMMAND
------------------------------------------------------------
181260 1 548474 danny /usr/bin/proton-drive-sync start --no-daemon
22869 1 390492 danny /home/danny/.dropbox-dist/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-242.4
142 1 8498 danny /usr/bin/syncthing serve --no-browser --logfile=de
...
```
… and I see that this is not just a system that syncthing uses! That explains it.
---
### Author:  [@system](https://forum.syncthing.net/u/system)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2026, 2:02am UTC](https://forum.syncthing.net/t/how-do-i-increase-the-inotify-limit-to-get-my-filesystem-watcher-to-work/26189/4 "2026-03-29T02:02:46Z")
This topic was automatically closed 30 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.