diff --git a/drivers/thermal/thermal_core.c b/drivers/thermal/thermal_core.c
index 750a89f0c20a50..d2e5a223377af0 100644
--- a/drivers/thermal/thermal_core.c
+++ b/drivers/thermal/thermal_core.c
@@ -1640,6 +1640,10 @@ static int __init thermal_init(void)
 {
 	int result;
 
+	result = thermal_netlink_init();
+	if (result)
+		goto error;
+
 	mutex_init(&poweroff_lock);
 	result = thermal_register_governors();
 	if (result)
diff --git a/drivers/thermal/thermal_netlink.c b/drivers/thermal/thermal_netlink.c
index 9299e7975f31f2..af7b2383e8f6b1 100644
--- a/drivers/thermal/thermal_netlink.c
+++ b/drivers/thermal/thermal_netlink.c
@@ -641,8 +641,7 @@ static struct genl_family thermal_gnl_family __ro_after_init = {
 	.n_mcgrps	= ARRAY_SIZE(thermal_genl_mcgrps),
 };
 
-static int __init thermal_netlink_init(void)
+int __init thermal_netlink_init(void)
 {
 	return genl_register_family(&thermal_gnl_family);
 }
-core_initcall(thermal_netlink_init);
diff --git a/drivers/thermal/thermal_netlink.h b/drivers/thermal/thermal_netlink.h
index 0ec28d105da5be..828d1dddfa98b5 100644
--- a/drivers/thermal/thermal_netlink.h
+++ b/drivers/thermal/thermal_netlink.h
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 
 /* Netlink notification function */
 #ifdef CONFIG_THERMAL_NETLINK
+int __init thermal_netlink_init(void);
 int thermal_notify_tz_create(int tz_id, const char *name);
 int thermal_notify_tz_delete(int tz_id);
 int thermal_notify_tz_enable(int tz_id);
@@ -23,6 +24,11 @@ int thermal_notify_cdev_delete(int cdev_id);
 int thermal_notify_tz_gov_change(int tz_id, const char *name);
 int thermal_genl_sampling_temp(int id, int temp);
 #else
+static inline int thermal_netlink_init(void)
+{
+	return 0;
+}
+
 static inline int thermal_notify_tz_create(int tz_id, const char *name)
 {
 	return 0;