diff --git a/fs/pstore/platform.c b/fs/pstore/platform.c
index 0c034ea39954..c32957e4b256 100644
--- a/fs/pstore/platform.c
+++ b/fs/pstore/platform.c
@@ -562,8 +562,9 @@ static int pstore_write_user_compat(struct pstore_record *record,
 int pstore_register(struct pstore_info *psi)
 {
 	if (backend && strcmp(backend, psi->name)) {
-		pr_warn("ignoring unexpected backend '%s'\n", psi->name);
-		return -EPERM;
+		pr_warn("backend '%s' already in use: ignoring '%s'\n",
+			backend, psi->name);
+		return -EBUSY;
 	}
 
 	/* Sanity check flags. */