diff --git a/fs/io-wq.c b/fs/io-wq.c
index f72d53848dcb..8bb17b6d4de3 100644
--- a/fs/io-wq.c
+++ b/fs/io-wq.c
@@ -299,7 +299,8 @@ static void io_wqe_wake_worker(struct io_wqe *wqe, struct io_wqe_acct *acct)
 	 * Most likely an attempt to queue unbounded work on an io_wq that
 	 * wasn't setup with any unbounded workers.
 	 */
-	WARN_ON_ONCE(!acct->max_workers);
+	if (unlikely(!acct->max_workers))
+		pr_warn_once("io-wq is not configured for unbound workers");
 
 	rcu_read_lock();
 	ret = io_wqe_activate_free_worker(wqe);
@@ -1085,6 +1086,8 @@ struct io_wq *io_wq_create(unsigned bounded, struct io_wq_data *data)
 
 	if (WARN_ON_ONCE(!data->free_work || !data->do_work))
 		return ERR_PTR(-EINVAL);
+	if (WARN_ON_ONCE(!bounded))
+		return ERR_PTR(-EINVAL);
 
 	wq = kzalloc(sizeof(*wq), GFP_KERNEL);
 	if (!wq)