Which loaded kernel modules are unused and should I disable them?

Question

I want to know the kernel modules which are not being used now. So, that I can disable them from loading at boot time?

Is there any method to see which kernel modules (of course, loaded) are not in use?

Answer 1

Most modules are automatically loaded only because the corresponding hardware was detected

lsmod shows you the currently loaded modules, as (excerpt):

Module                  Size  Used by
...
psmouse                87692  0 
bluetooth             180104  7 bnep
parport                46562  3 lp,parport_pc,ppdev
serio_raw              13211  0 
snd_ens1371            25747  4 
gameport               19693  1 snd_ens1371
snd_ac97_codec        134826  1 snd_ens1371
joydev                 17693  0 
...

However, just because Used is 0 for a particular module does not mean it is not in use!

Note that the kernel autoloads modules based on the hardware detected, except for the modules listed in /etc/modules, which are "force"-loaded.

Removal/blacklisting will disable hardware; no real need on modern systems with more than 512MB of RAM

So if you remove or blacklist any of these modules beware: that piece of hardware may no longer work. e.g. if I remove/blacklist parport, my parallel port won't work, which is OK if I never use it. The same goes for bluetooth ,etc.

The kernel modules take up relatively little memory on a modern PC, so the only time I'd recommend this kind of manual "optimization" is on embedded systems, etc. with little RAM.

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For Disabling the modules

From a later comment by OP, It seems that, he wanted to know the loaded unused modules names to disable them from auto loading in the boot time. It can be achieved by blacklisting them.

• A good help can be found from this answer
• Also see this question How to blacklist kernel modules?