diff --git a/drivers/nvme/target/core.c b/drivers/nvme/target/core.c
index 1853db38b6820f..4ae4bea6625de6 100644
--- a/drivers/nvme/target/core.c
+++ b/drivers/nvme/target/core.c
@@ -412,7 +412,6 @@ void nvmet_start_keep_alive_timer(struct nvmet_ctrl *ctrl)
 	pr_debug("ctrl %d start keep-alive timer for %d secs\n",
 		ctrl->cntlid, ctrl->kato);
 
-	INIT_DELAYED_WORK(&ctrl->ka_work, nvmet_keep_alive_timer);
 	schedule_delayed_work(&ctrl->ka_work, ctrl->kato * HZ);
 }
 
@@ -1352,6 +1351,7 @@ u16 nvmet_alloc_ctrl(const char *subsysnqn, const char *hostnqn,
 	INIT_LIST_HEAD(&ctrl->async_events);
 	INIT_RADIX_TREE(&ctrl->p2p_ns_map, GFP_KERNEL);
 	INIT_WORK(&ctrl->fatal_err_work, nvmet_fatal_error_handler);
+	INIT_DELAYED_WORK(&ctrl->ka_work, nvmet_keep_alive_timer);
 
 	memcpy(ctrl->subsysnqn, subsysnqn, NVMF_NQN_SIZE);
 	memcpy(ctrl->hostnqn, hostnqn, NVMF_NQN_SIZE);