diff --git a/criu/files-reg.c b/criu/files-reg.c
index 07b0bc4e5..13719990a 100644
--- a/criu/files-reg.c
+++ b/criu/files-reg.c
@@ -1513,10 +1513,8 @@ static int make_parent_dirs_if_need(int mntns_root, char *path)
 	struct stat st;
 
 	p = last_delim = strrchr(path, '/');
-	if (!p) {
-		pr_err("Path %s has no parent dir\n", path);
-		return -1;
-	}
+	if (!p)
+		return 0;
 	*p = '\0';
 
 	if (fstatat(mntns_root, path, &st, AT_EMPTY_PATH) == 0)