diff --git a/fs/xfs/linux-2.6/xfs_export.c b/fs/xfs/linux-2.6/xfs_export.c
index 3764d74790ec..fc0114da7fdd 100644
--- a/fs/xfs/linux-2.6/xfs_export.c
+++ b/fs/xfs/linux-2.6/xfs_export.c
@@ -70,8 +70,16 @@ xfs_fs_encode_fh(
 	else
 		fileid_type = FILEID_INO32_GEN_PARENT;
 
-	/* filesystem may contain 64bit inode numbers */
-	if (!(XFS_M(inode->i_sb)->m_flags & XFS_MOUNT_SMALL_INUMS))
+	/*
+	 * If the the filesystem may contain 64bit inode numbers, we need
+	 * to use larger file handles that can represent them.
+	 *
+	 * While we only allocate inodes that do not fit into 32 bits any
+	 * large enough filesystem may contain them, thus the slightly
+	 * confusing looking conditional below.
+	 */
+	if (!(XFS_M(inode->i_sb)->m_flags & XFS_MOUNT_SMALL_INUMS) ||
+	    (XFS_M(inode->i_sb)->m_flags & XFS_MOUNT_32BITINODES))
 		fileid_type |= XFS_FILEID_TYPE_64FLAG;
 
 	/*