diff --git a/fs/nfs/flexfilelayout/flexfilelayout.c b/fs/nfs/flexfilelayout/flexfilelayout.c
index 7d45401ee5b1..84d22f715653 100644
--- a/fs/nfs/flexfilelayout/flexfilelayout.c
+++ b/fs/nfs/flexfilelayout/flexfilelayout.c
@@ -1073,19 +1073,33 @@ ff_layout_pg_init_read(struct nfs_pageio_descriptor *pgio,
 	if (pgio->pg_error < 0) {
 		if (pgio->pg_error != -EAGAIN)
 			return;
-		/* Retry getting layout segment if lower layer returned -EAGAIN */
-		if (pgio->pg_maxretrans && req->wb_nio++ > pgio->pg_maxretrans) {
-			if (NFS_SERVER(pgio->pg_inode)->flags & NFS_MOUNT_SOFTERR)
-				pgio->pg_error = -ETIMEDOUT;
-			else
-				pgio->pg_error = -EIO;
-			return;
-		}
-		pgio->pg_error = 0;
-		/* Sleep for 1 second before retrying */
-		ssleep(1);
-		goto retry;
+		goto retry_nolseg;
 	}
+	/*
+	 * No segment, and no error to report either: pnfs_update_layout()
+	 * simply has nothing to give (NFS_LAYOUT_BULK_RECALL, a failed
+	 * pnfs_layout_io_test, blocked LAYOUTGETs, a layout being
+	 * returned).  If the server forbids reading this file through the
+	 * MDS there is no fallback to take, so wait for a layout on the
+	 * same terms as the -EAGAIN above.  The layout hdr that carried
+	 * FF_FLAGS_NO_IO_THRU_MDS may itself be gone by now, which is why
+	 * this asks the inode and not the hdr.
+	 */
+	if (!nfs_no_io_thru_mds(pgio->pg_inode))
+		goto out_mds;
+retry_nolseg:
+	/* Retry getting layout segment if lower layer returned -EAGAIN */
+	if (pgio->pg_maxretrans && req->wb_nio++ > pgio->pg_maxretrans) {
+		if (NFS_SERVER(pgio->pg_inode)->flags & NFS_MOUNT_SOFTERR)
+			pgio->pg_error = -ETIMEDOUT;
+		else
+			pgio->pg_error = -EIO;
+		return;
+	}
+	pgio->pg_error = 0;
+	/* Sleep for 1 second before retrying */
+	ssleep(1);
+	goto retry;
 out_mds:
 	trace_pnfs_mds_fallback_pg_init_read(pgio->pg_inode,
 			0, NFS4_MAX_UINT64, IOMODE_READ,