diff --git a/fs/namei.c b/fs/namei.c
index 76fb76a0818b..5a9291c31881 100644
--- a/fs/namei.c
+++ b/fs/namei.c
@@ -1585,7 +1585,7 @@ static inline int walk_component(struct nameidata *nd, struct path *path,
 		inode = path->dentry->d_inode;
 	}
 	err = -ENOENT;
-	if (!inode || d_is_negative(path->dentry))
+	if (d_is_negative(path->dentry))
 		goto out_path_put;
 
 	if (should_follow_link(path->dentry, follow)) {
@@ -2310,7 +2310,7 @@ mountpoint_last(struct nameidata *nd, struct path *path)
 	mutex_unlock(&dir->d_inode->i_mutex);
 
 done:
-	if (!dentry->d_inode || d_is_negative(dentry)) {
+	if (d_is_negative(dentry)) {
 		error = -ENOENT;
 		dput(dentry);
 		goto out;
@@ -3038,7 +3038,7 @@ static int do_last(struct nameidata *nd, struct path *path,
 finish_lookup:
 	/* we _can_ be in RCU mode here */
 	error = -ENOENT;
-	if (!inode || d_is_negative(path->dentry)) {
+	if (d_is_negative(path->dentry)) {
 		path_to_nameidata(path, nd);
 		goto out;
 	}