diff --git a/drivers/md/dm-init.c b/drivers/md/dm-init.c
index dc4381d68313..6e9e73a55874 100644
--- a/drivers/md/dm-init.c
+++ b/drivers/md/dm-init.c
@@ -213,8 +213,10 @@ static char __init *dm_parse_device_entry(struct dm_device *dev, char *str)
 	strscpy(dev->dmi.uuid, field[1], sizeof(dev->dmi.uuid));
 	/* minor */
 	if (strlen(field[2])) {
-		if (kstrtoull(field[2], 0, &dev->dmi.dev))
+		if (kstrtoull(field[2], 0, &dev->dmi.dev) ||
+		    dev->dmi.dev >= (1 << MINORBITS))
 			return ERR_PTR(-EINVAL);
+		dev->dmi.dev = huge_encode_dev((dev_t)dev->dmi.dev);
 		dev->dmi.flags |= DM_PERSISTENT_DEV_FLAG;
 	}
 	/* flags */