diff --git a/launch/make_swap.sh b/launch/make_swap.sh
index 97b5a5dc9c..493dba6789 100644
--- a/launch/make_swap.sh
+++ b/launch/make_swap.sh
@@ -24,8 +24,10 @@ if [ `grep SwapTotal /proc/meminfo | awk '{ print $2; }'` -eq 0 ]; then
     SWAPFILE=/swapfile
     MEMKB=`grep MemTotal /proc/meminfo | awk '{print $2; }'`
     # Use the nearest power of two in MB as the swap size.
+    # We also shift by 8MB to start the partitions as apparently
+    # parted and linux prefer things aligned on multiples of 8.
     # This ensures that the partitions below are aligned properly.
-    MEM=`python3 -c "import math ; print(min(2**int(round(math.log($MEMKB/1024, 2))),8192))"`
+    MEM=`python3 -c "import math ; print(min(2**int(round(math.log($MEMKB/1024, 2))),8192) + 8)"`
 
     # Avoid using config drive device for swap
     if [ -n "$DEV" ] && ! blkid | grep $DEV | grep TYPE ; then
@@ -37,7 +39,7 @@ if [ `grep SwapTotal /proc/meminfo | awk '{ print $2; }'` -eq 0 ]; then
 
         parted ${DEV} --script -- \
             mklabel msdos \
-            mkpart primary linux-swap 1 ${MEM} \
+            mkpart primary linux-swap 8 ${MEM} \
             mkpart primary ext2 ${MEM} -1
         sync
         # We are only interested in scanning $DEV, not all block devices