diff --git a/fs/erofs/zdata.c b/fs/erofs/zdata.c
index 27ab7bd844ec..c6240dccbb0f 100644
--- a/fs/erofs/zdata.c
+++ b/fs/erofs/zdata.c
@@ -1455,6 +1455,9 @@ static void z_erofs_decompress_kickoff(struct z_erofs_decompressqueue *io,
 	if (atomic_add_return(bios, &io->pending_bios))
 		return;
 	if (z_erofs_in_atomic()) {
+		/* See `sync_decompress` in sysfs-fs-erofs for more details */
+		if (sbi->sync_decompress == EROFS_SYNC_DECOMPRESS_AUTO)
+			sbi->sync_decompress = EROFS_SYNC_DECOMPRESS_FORCE_ON;
 #ifdef CONFIG_EROFS_FS_PCPU_KTHREAD
 		struct kthread_worker *worker;
 
@@ -1471,9 +1474,6 @@ static void z_erofs_decompress_kickoff(struct z_erofs_decompressqueue *io,
 #else
 		queue_work(z_erofs_workqueue, &io->u.work);
 #endif
-		/* See `sync_decompress` in sysfs-fs-erofs for more details */
-		if (sbi->sync_decompress == EROFS_SYNC_DECOMPRESS_AUTO)
-			sbi->sync_decompress = EROFS_SYNC_DECOMPRESS_FORCE_ON;
 		return;
 	}
 	gfp_flag = memalloc_noio_save();