diff --git a/fs/bcachefs/recovery.c b/fs/bcachefs/recovery.c
index d2b07f602da9..606d684e6f23 100644
--- a/fs/bcachefs/recovery.c
+++ b/fs/bcachefs/recovery.c
@@ -1125,7 +1125,10 @@ int bch2_fs_initialize(struct bch_fs *c)
         * journal_res_get() will crash if called before this has
         * set up the journal.pin FIFO and journal.cur pointer:
         */
-       bch2_fs_journal_start(&c->journal, 1);
+       ret = bch2_fs_journal_start(&c->journal, 1);
+       if (ret)
+               goto err;
+
        set_bit(BCH_FS_accounting_replay_done, &c->flags);
        bch2_journal_set_replay_done(&c->journal);