diff --git a/drivers/hv/vmbus_drv.c b/drivers/hv/vmbus_drv.c
index 6824bd7cb3c4..18ee549d9880 100644
--- a/drivers/hv/vmbus_drv.c
+++ b/drivers/hv/vmbus_drv.c
@@ -2982,6 +2982,13 @@ static int __init hv_acpi_init(void)
 		return -ENODEV;
 
 	if (hv_root_partition() && !hv_nested)
+		/*
+		 * A non-nested root partition does not need VMBus client
+		 * functionality. However, the mshv_root module may have
+		 * a dependency on the VMBus module as described in
+		 * commit 840b740a35bf. Return success so the module
+		 * loads even though no VMBus initialization is done.
+		 */
 		return 0;
 
 	/*
@@ -3030,6 +3037,14 @@ static void __exit vmbus_exit(void)
 {
 	int cpu;
 
+	if (hv_root_partition() && !hv_nested)
+		/*
+		 * If a non-nested root partition loaded the VMBus module,
+		 * hv_acpi_init() did not do any VMBus initialization.
+		 * There's nothing to clean up, so just return.
+		 */
+		return;
+
 	unregister_syscore(&hv_synic_syscore);
 
 	hv_remove_kexec_handler();