diff --git a/mm/memcontrol.c b/mm/memcontrol.c
index 5aab347a5b0b..8d6cedd16f8d 100644
--- a/mm/memcontrol.c
+++ b/mm/memcontrol.c
@@ -2703,15 +2703,6 @@ static int __mem_cgroup_try_charge(struct mm_struct *mm,
 
 	if (gfp_mask & __GFP_NOFAIL)
 		oom = false;
-
-	/*
-	 * We always charge the cgroup the mm_struct belongs to.
-	 * The mm_struct's mem_cgroup changes on task migration if the
-	 * thread group leader migrates. It's possible that mm is not
-	 * set, if so charge the root memcg (happens for pagecache usage).
-	 */
-	if (!*ptr && !mm)
-		*ptr = root_mem_cgroup;
 again:
 	if (*ptr) { /* css should be a valid one */
 		memcg = *ptr;
@@ -4038,6 +4029,12 @@ int mem_cgroup_cache_charge(struct page *page, struct mm_struct *mm,
 		return 0;
 
 	if (!PageSwapCache(page)) {
+		/*
+		 * Page cache insertions can happen without an actual
+		 * task context, e.g. during disk probing on boot.
+		 */
+		if (!mm)
+			memcg = root_mem_cgroup;
 		ret = __mem_cgroup_try_charge(mm, gfp_mask, 1, &memcg, true);
 		if (ret != -ENOMEM)
 			__mem_cgroup_commit_charge(memcg, page, 1, type, false);