diff --git a/drivers/staging/vme_user/vme_fake.c b/drivers/staging/vme_user/vme_fake.c
index a9d3a7f5c440..6454ccf6e5b4 100644
--- a/drivers/staging/vme_user/vme_fake.c
+++ b/drivers/staging/vme_user/vme_fake.c
@@ -1070,6 +1070,8 @@ static int __init fake_init(void)
 
 	/* We need a fake parent device */
 	vme_root = __root_device_register("vme", THIS_MODULE);
+	if (IS_ERR(vme_root))
+		return PTR_ERR(vme_root);
 
 	/* If we want to support more than one bridge at some point, we need to
 	 * dynamically allocate this so we get one per device.