diff --git a/softmmu/physmem.c b/softmmu/physmem.c
index 2e18947598..31baf3a887 100644
--- a/softmmu/physmem.c
+++ b/softmmu/physmem.c
@@ -2075,7 +2075,7 @@ RAMBlock *qemu_ram_alloc_from_fd(ram_addr_t size, MemoryRegion *mr,
     }
 
     file_align = get_file_align(fd);
-    if (file_align > 0 && mr && file_align > mr->align) {
+    if (file_align > 0 && file_align > mr->align) {
         error_setg(errp, "backing store align 0x%" PRIx64
                    " is larger than 'align' option 0x%" PRIx64,
                    file_align, mr->align);