diff --git a/test/nvme/reset/reset.c b/test/nvme/reset/reset.c
index 5aedbae23b..fe2004e8e8 100644
--- a/test/nvme/reset/reset.c
+++ b/test/nvme/reset/reset.c
@@ -634,11 +634,21 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
 	spdk_env_opts_init(&opts);
 	opts.name = "reset";
 	opts.core_mask = "0x1";
+	opts.shm_id = 0;
 	if (spdk_env_init(&opts) < 0) {
 		fprintf(stderr, "Unable to initialize SPDK env\n");
 		return 1;
 	}
 
+	if (register_controllers() != 0) {
+		return 1;
+	}
+
+	if (!g_controllers) {
+		printf("No NVMe controller found, %s exiting\n", argv[0]);
+		return 1;
+	}
+
 	task_pool = spdk_mempool_create("task_pool", TASK_POOL_NUM,
 					sizeof(struct reset_task),
 					64, SPDK_ENV_SOCKET_ID_ANY);
@@ -653,10 +663,6 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
 		return 1;
 	}
 
-	if (register_controllers() != 0) {
-		return 1;
-	}
-
 	if (associate_workers_with_ns() != 0) {
 		rc = 1;
 		goto cleanup;