diff --git a/arch/s390/mm/cmm.c b/arch/s390/mm/cmm.c
index a9550dca3e4b2fed74fc7472dbfd3da95d4526fc..c66ffd8dbbb732416ad3d803d00ec02da6125555 100644
--- a/arch/s390/mm/cmm.c
+++ b/arch/s390/mm/cmm.c
@@ -23,7 +23,10 @@
 #include <asm/pgalloc.h>
 #include <asm/diag.h>
 
-static char *sender = "VMRMSVM";
+#ifdef CONFIG_CMM_IUCV
+static char *cmm_default_sender = "VMRMSVM";
+#endif
+static char *sender;
 module_param(sender, charp, 0400);
 MODULE_PARM_DESC(sender,
 		 "Guest name that may send SMSG messages (default VMRMSVM)");
@@ -440,6 +443,8 @@ static int __init cmm_init(void)
 		int len = strlen(sender);
 		while (len--)
 			sender[len] = toupper(sender[len]);
+	} else {
+		sender = cmm_default_sender;
 	}
 
 	rc = smsg_register_callback(SMSG_PREFIX, cmm_smsg_target);