diff --git a/fs/btrfs/tree-log.c b/fs/btrfs/tree-log.c
index b08c47a7976c36dcd09a0bc705b5433c3cc69ae2..5af65d53618b0d7ba90bd4fbfc78c79bb3a4a546 100644
--- a/fs/btrfs/tree-log.c
+++ b/fs/btrfs/tree-log.c
@@ -3532,9 +3532,16 @@ static noinline int log_dir_items(struct btrfs_trans_handle *trans,
 	}
 	btrfs_release_path(path);
 
-	/* find the first key from this transaction again */
+	/*
+	 * Find the first key from this transaction again.  See the note for
+	 * log_new_dir_dentries, if we're logging a directory recursively we
+	 * won't be holding its i_mutex, which means we can modify the directory
+	 * while we're logging it.  If we remove an entry between our first
+	 * search and this search we'll not find the key again and can just
+	 * bail.
+	 */
 	ret = btrfs_search_slot(NULL, root, &min_key, path, 0, 0);
-	if (WARN_ON(ret != 0))
+	if (ret != 0)
 		goto done;
 
 	/*