diff --git a/drivers/nvme/host/core.c b/drivers/nvme/host/core.c
index 45f1dac07685..c61173be4127 100644
--- a/drivers/nvme/host/core.c
+++ b/drivers/nvme/host/core.c
@@ -4728,6 +4728,12 @@ void nvme_remove_namespaces(struct nvme_ctrl *ctrl)
 	 */
 	nvme_mpath_clear_ctrl_paths(ctrl);
 
+	/*
+	 * Unquiesce io queues so any pending IO won't hang, especially
+	 * those submitted from scan work
+	 */
+	nvme_unquiesce_io_queues(ctrl);
+
 	/* prevent racing with ns scanning */
 	flush_work(&ctrl->scan_work);
 
@@ -4737,10 +4743,8 @@ void nvme_remove_namespaces(struct nvme_ctrl *ctrl)
 	 * removing the namespaces' disks; fail all the queues now to avoid
 	 * potentially having to clean up the failed sync later.
 	 */
-	if (ctrl->state == NVME_CTRL_DEAD) {
+	if (ctrl->state == NVME_CTRL_DEAD)
 		nvme_mark_namespaces_dead(ctrl);
-		nvme_unquiesce_io_queues(ctrl);
-	}
 
 	/* this is a no-op when called from the controller reset handler */
 	nvme_change_ctrl_state(ctrl, NVME_CTRL_DELETING_NOIO);