diff --git a/drivers/tty/pty.c b/drivers/tty/pty.c
index 7a1a53819e22ca5f7ec29bb6c52db8a7fe8e61fd..bdb8fd1a202682e6e0eaf057c3cc88685c6ebc03 100644
--- a/drivers/tty/pty.c
+++ b/drivers/tty/pty.c
@@ -383,6 +383,10 @@ static int pty_common_install(struct tty_driver *driver, struct tty_struct *tty,
 	int idx = tty->index;
 	int retval = -ENOMEM;
 
+	/* Opening the slave first has always returned -EIO */
+	if (driver->subtype != PTY_TYPE_MASTER)
+		return -EIO;
+
 	ports[0] = kmalloc(sizeof **ports, GFP_KERNEL);
 	ports[1] = kmalloc(sizeof **ports, GFP_KERNEL);
 	if (!ports[0] || !ports[1])
@@ -419,8 +423,6 @@ static int pty_common_install(struct tty_driver *driver, struct tty_struct *tty,
 	 * Everything allocated ... set up the o_tty structure.
 	 */
 	tty_driver_kref_get(driver->other);
-	if (driver->subtype == PTY_TYPE_MASTER)
-		o_tty->count++;
 	/* Establish the links in both directions */
 	tty->link   = o_tty;
 	o_tty->link = tty;
@@ -432,6 +434,7 @@ static int pty_common_install(struct tty_driver *driver, struct tty_struct *tty,
 
 	tty_driver_kref_get(driver);
 	tty->count++;
+	o_tty->count++;
 	return 0;
 err_free_termios:
 	if (legacy)