diff --git a/drivers/virtio/virtio.c b/drivers/virtio/virtio.c
index bf7ff3934d7f..59e36ef4920f 100644
--- a/drivers/virtio/virtio.c
+++ b/drivers/virtio/virtio.c
@@ -303,11 +303,21 @@ void unregister_virtio_driver(struct virtio_driver *driver)
 }
 EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(unregister_virtio_driver);
 
+/**
+ * register_virtio_device - register virtio device
+ * @dev        : virtio device to be registered
+ *
+ * On error, the caller must call put_device on &@dev->dev (and not kfree),
+ * as another code path may have obtained a reference to @dev.
+ *
+ * Returns: 0 on suceess, -error on failure
+ */
 int register_virtio_device(struct virtio_device *dev)
 {
 	int err;
 
 	dev->dev.bus = &virtio_bus;
+	device_initialize(&dev->dev);
 
 	/* Assign a unique device index and hence name. */
 	err = ida_simple_get(&virtio_index_ida, 0, 0, GFP_KERNEL);
@@ -330,9 +340,11 @@ int register_virtio_device(struct virtio_device *dev)
 
 	INIT_LIST_HEAD(&dev->vqs);
 
-	/* device_register() causes the bus infrastructure to look for a
-	 * matching driver. */
-	err = device_register(&dev->dev);
+	/*
+	 * device_add() causes the bus infrastructure to look for a matching
+	 * driver.
+	 */
+	err = device_add(&dev->dev);
 	if (err)
 		ida_simple_remove(&virtio_index_ida, dev->index);
 out: