diff --git a/drivers/scsi/storvsc_drv.c b/drivers/scsi/storvsc_drv.c
index 84380bae20f1ec350d5209931cdca018351199f1..e186743033f48f9e44daba8d98fc5df390394536 100644
--- a/drivers/scsi/storvsc_drv.c
+++ b/drivers/scsi/storvsc_drv.c
@@ -668,13 +668,22 @@ static void  handle_multichannel_storage(struct hv_device *device, int max_chns)
 {
 	struct device *dev = &device->device;
 	struct storvsc_device *stor_device;
-	int num_cpus = num_online_cpus();
 	int num_sc;
 	struct storvsc_cmd_request *request;
 	struct vstor_packet *vstor_packet;
 	int ret, t;
 
-	num_sc = ((max_chns > num_cpus) ? num_cpus : max_chns);
+	/*
+	 * If the number of CPUs is artificially restricted, such as
+	 * with maxcpus=1 on the kernel boot line, Hyper-V could offer
+	 * sub-channels >= the number of CPUs. These sub-channels
+	 * should not be created. The primary channel is already created
+	 * and assigned to one CPU, so check against # CPUs - 1.
+	 */
+	num_sc = min((int)(num_online_cpus() - 1), max_chns);
+	if (!num_sc)
+		return;
+
 	stor_device = get_out_stor_device(device);
 	if (!stor_device)
 		return;