# Modprobe error when trying to enable i2c on rpi

**URL:** <https://forums.balena.io/t/modprobe-error-when-trying-to-enable-i2c-on-rpi/4669>\
**Category:** Product support\
**Created:** [December 11, 2018, 8:56am UTC](https://forums.balena.io/t/modprobe-error-when-trying-to-enable-i2c-on-rpi/4669 "2018-12-11T08:56:15Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![g\_abhishek\_agarwal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b9bd4f/32.png) [@g\_abhishek\_agarwal](https://forums.balena.io/u/g_abhishek_agarwal)\
**Post date:** [December 11, 2018, 8:56am UTC](https://forums.balena.io/t/modprobe-error-when-trying-to-enable-i2c-on-rpi/4669/1 "2018-12-11T08:56:15Z")

</div>

**modprobe: ERROR: …/libkmod/libkmod.c:557 kmod\_search\_moddep() could not open moddep file '/lib/modules/4.14.68/modules.dep.bin’**

Been getting the above error when trying to enable i2c via Dockerfile.

Dockerfile

FROM resin/raspberry-pi-node

COPY . /app  
WORKDIR /app  
RUN npm install  
EXPOSE 1883  
CMD modprobe i2c-dev && node /app/proccess.js

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![CameronDiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/2acd7d/32.png) [@CameronDiver](https://forums.balena.io/u/CameronDiver)\
**Post date:** [December 11, 2018, 9:38am UTC](https://forums.balena.io/t/modprobe-error-when-trying-to-enable-i2c-on-rpi/4669/4 "2018-12-11T09:38:06Z")

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Hey @g_abhishek_agarwal

Are you using a docker-compoes file, or lettig the balena builder generate one for you? If so could you paste the service entry for this service please?

Providing the dashboard link for this device and enabling support access may also help too.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![g\_abhishek\_agarwal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b9bd4f/32.png) [@g\_abhishek\_agarwal](https://forums.balena.io/u/g_abhishek_agarwal)\
**Post date:** [December 11, 2018, 9:50am UTC](https://forums.balena.io/t/modprobe-error-when-trying-to-enable-i2c-on-rpi/4669/5 "2018-12-11T09:50:16Z")

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Hey @CameronDiver thanks for replying. I am using a docker-compose file since my app is a multi-container app. I’ll paste contents of the file for you here.

version: ‘2.1’  
volumes:  
resin-data:  
services:  
redis\_db:  
image: hypriot/rpi-redis  
ports:  
- 6379:6379  
brain:  
build: ./brain  
depends\_on:  
- redis\_db  
volumes:  
- resin-data:/app/db  
ports:  
- 1883:1883

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![CameronDiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/2acd7d/32.png) [@CameronDiver](https://forums.balena.io/u/CameronDiver)\
**Post date:** [December 11, 2018, 9:56am UTC](https://forums.balena.io/t/modprobe-error-when-trying-to-enable-i2c-on-rpi/4669/6 "2018-12-11T09:56:15Z")

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Thanks for sending the file. What you need to do is add the label to the service which informs the supervisor to mount the kernel module directory into the container. This label is `io.balena.features.kernel-modules` and the documentation is available here: [https://www.balena.io/docs/reference/supervisor/docker-compose/#labels](https://www.balena.io/docs/reference/supervisor/docker-compose/#labels).

You may also need to set the privileged flag for the container which is doing the `modprobe`, using `privileged: true` in the service definition.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![g\_abhishek\_agarwal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b9bd4f/32.png) [@g\_abhishek\_agarwal](https://forums.balena.io/u/g_abhishek_agarwal)\
**Post date:** [December 11, 2018, 12:01pm UTC](https://forums.balena.io/t/modprobe-error-when-trying-to-enable-i2c-on-rpi/4669/8 "2018-12-11T12:01:11Z")

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@CameronDiver Hey I am still getting the same error despite modifying the docker-compose file.

docker-compose.yml

version: ‘2.1’  
volumes:  
resin-data:  
services:  
redis\_db:  
image: hypriot/rpi-redis  
ports:  
- 6379:6379  
app:  
build: ./app  
privileged: true  
labels:  
- io.balena.features.kernel-modules  
depends\_on:  
- redis\_db  
volumes:  
- resin-data:/app/db  
ports:  
- 1883:1883

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![CameronDiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/2acd7d/32.png) [@CameronDiver](https://forums.balena.io/u/CameronDiver)\
**Post date:** [December 11, 2018, 12:05pm UTC](https://forums.balena.io/t/modprobe-error-when-trying-to-enable-i2c-on-rpi/4669/9 "2018-12-11T12:05:25Z")

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The syntax for the labels would be either

```auto
labels:
  - "io.balena.features.kernel-modules=1"

```

or

```auto
labels:
  io.balena.features.kernel-modules: '1'

```