diff --git a/arch/arm/Kconfig b/arch/arm/Kconfig
index 5ebc5d922ea1..8882a535cf44 100644
--- a/arch/arm/Kconfig
+++ b/arch/arm/Kconfig
@@ -195,7 +195,8 @@ config VECTORS_BASE
 	  The base address of exception vectors.
 
 config ARM_PATCH_PHYS_VIRT
-	bool "Patch physical to virtual translations at runtime"
+	bool "Patch physical to virtual translations at runtime" if EMBEDDED
+	default y
 	depends on !XIP_KERNEL && MMU
 	depends on !ARCH_REALVIEW || !SPARSEMEM
 	help
@@ -207,6 +208,10 @@ config ARM_PATCH_PHYS_VIRT
 	  of physical memory is at a 16MB boundary, or theoretically 64K
 	  for the MSM machine class.
 
+	  Only disable this option if you know that you do not require
+	  this feature (eg, building a kernel for a single machine) and
+	  you need to shrink the kernel to the minimal size.
+
 config ARM_PATCH_PHYS_VIRT_16BIT
 	def_bool y
 	depends on ARM_PATCH_PHYS_VIRT && ARCH_MSM
@@ -301,7 +306,6 @@ config ARCH_AT91
 	select ARCH_REQUIRE_GPIOLIB
 	select HAVE_CLK
 	select CLKDEV_LOOKUP
-	select ARM_PATCH_PHYS_VIRT if MMU
 	help
 	  This enables support for systems based on the Atmel AT91RM9200,
 	  AT91SAM9 and AT91CAP9 processors.