diff --git a/drivers/block/nbd.c b/drivers/block/nbd.c
index 6c4aa19ea11a..ffce519bf008 100644
--- a/drivers/block/nbd.c
+++ b/drivers/block/nbd.c
@@ -166,6 +166,7 @@ static struct dentry *nbd_dbg_dir;
 
 static unsigned int nbds_max = 16;
 static int max_part = 16;
+static int pre_defined_connections = 1;
 static int part_shift;
 
 static int nbd_dev_dbg_init(struct nbd_device *nbd);
@@ -2712,6 +2713,12 @@ static int __init nbd_init(void)
 	if (nbds_max > 1UL << (MINORBITS - part_shift))
 		return -EINVAL;
 
+	/* An excessively large value will be adjusted in blk_mq_alloc_tag_set */
+	if (pre_defined_connections < 1) {
+		pr_err("pre_defined_connections must be >= 1\n");
+		return -EINVAL;
+	}
+
 	if (register_blkdev(NBD_MAJOR, "nbd"))
 		return -EIO;
 
@@ -2728,8 +2735,12 @@ static int __init nbd_init(void)
 	}
 	nbd_dbg_init();
 
+	/*
+	 * Set to the intended connection count so nbd_start_device() can skip
+	 * the queue-freezing blk_mq_update_nr_hw_queues() call.
+	 */
 	for (i = 0; i < nbds_max; i++)
-		nbd_dev_add(i, 1, 1);
+		nbd_dev_add(i, 1, pre_defined_connections);
 	return 0;
 }
 
@@ -2790,3 +2801,6 @@ module_param(nbds_max, int, 0444);
 MODULE_PARM_DESC(nbds_max, "number of network block devices to initialize (default: 16)");
 module_param(max_part, int, 0444);
 MODULE_PARM_DESC(max_part, "number of partitions per device (default: 16)");
+module_param(pre_defined_connections, int, 0444);
+MODULE_PARM_DESC(pre_defined_connections,
+"number of connections for devices pre-created at module load (default: 1)");