diff --git a/fs/btrfs/ctree.h b/fs/btrfs/ctree.h
index 1dd36965cd08..cd77c0621a55 100644
--- a/fs/btrfs/ctree.h
+++ b/fs/btrfs/ctree.h
@@ -827,7 +827,10 @@ struct btrfs_fs_info {
 	 */
 	struct ulist *qgroup_ulist;
 
-	/* protect user change for quota operations */
+	/*
+	 * Protect user change for quota operations. If a transaction is needed,
+	 * it must be started before locking this lock.
+	 */
 	struct mutex qgroup_ioctl_lock;
 
 	/* list of dirty qgroups to be written at next commit */
diff --git a/fs/btrfs/qgroup.c b/fs/btrfs/qgroup.c
index 4720e477c482..2f119adbc808 100644
--- a/fs/btrfs/qgroup.c
+++ b/fs/btrfs/qgroup.c
@@ -886,6 +886,7 @@ int btrfs_quota_enable(struct btrfs_fs_info *fs_info)
 	struct btrfs_key found_key;
 	struct btrfs_qgroup *qgroup = NULL;
 	struct btrfs_trans_handle *trans = NULL;
+	struct ulist *ulist = NULL;
 	int ret = 0;
 	int slot;
 
@@ -893,12 +894,27 @@ int btrfs_quota_enable(struct btrfs_fs_info *fs_info)
 	if (fs_info->quota_root)
 		goto out;
 
-	fs_info->qgroup_ulist = ulist_alloc(GFP_KERNEL);
-	if (!fs_info->qgroup_ulist) {
+	ulist = ulist_alloc(GFP_KERNEL);
+	if (!ulist) {
 		ret = -ENOMEM;
 		goto out;
 	}
 
+	/*
+	 * Unlock qgroup_ioctl_lock before starting the transaction. This is to
+	 * avoid lock acquisition inversion problems (reported by lockdep) between
+	 * qgroup_ioctl_lock and the vfs freeze semaphores, acquired when we
+	 * start a transaction.
+	 * After we started the transaction lock qgroup_ioctl_lock again and
+	 * check if someone else created the quota root in the meanwhile. If so,
+	 * just return success and release the transaction handle.
+	 *
+	 * Also we don't need to worry about someone else calling
+	 * btrfs_sysfs_add_qgroups() after we unlock and getting an error because
+	 * that function returns 0 (success) when the sysfs entries already exist.
+	 */
+	mutex_unlock(&fs_info->qgroup_ioctl_lock);
+
 	/*
 	 * 1 for quota root item
 	 * 1 for BTRFS_QGROUP_STATUS item
@@ -908,12 +924,20 @@ int btrfs_quota_enable(struct btrfs_fs_info *fs_info)
 	 * would be a lot of overkill.
 	 */
 	trans = btrfs_start_transaction(tree_root, 2);
+
+	mutex_lock(&fs_info->qgroup_ioctl_lock);
 	if (IS_ERR(trans)) {
 		ret = PTR_ERR(trans);
 		trans = NULL;
 		goto out;
 	}
 
+	if (fs_info->quota_root)
+		goto out;
+
+	fs_info->qgroup_ulist = ulist;
+	ulist = NULL;
+
 	/*
 	 * initially create the quota tree
 	 */
@@ -1046,10 +1070,13 @@ int btrfs_quota_enable(struct btrfs_fs_info *fs_info)
 	if (ret) {
 		ulist_free(fs_info->qgroup_ulist);
 		fs_info->qgroup_ulist = NULL;
-		if (trans)
-			btrfs_end_transaction(trans);
 	}
 	mutex_unlock(&fs_info->qgroup_ioctl_lock);
+	if (ret && trans)
+		btrfs_end_transaction(trans);
+	else if (trans)
+		ret = btrfs_end_transaction(trans);
+	ulist_free(ulist);
 	return ret;
 }
 
@@ -1062,19 +1089,29 @@ int btrfs_quota_disable(struct btrfs_fs_info *fs_info)
 	mutex_lock(&fs_info->qgroup_ioctl_lock);
 	if (!fs_info->quota_root)
 		goto out;
+	mutex_unlock(&fs_info->qgroup_ioctl_lock);
 
 	/*
 	 * 1 For the root item
 	 *
 	 * We should also reserve enough items for the quota tree deletion in
 	 * btrfs_clean_quota_tree but this is not done.
+	 *
+	 * Also, we must always start a transaction without holding the mutex
+	 * qgroup_ioctl_lock, see btrfs_quota_enable().
 	 */
 	trans = btrfs_start_transaction(fs_info->tree_root, 1);
+
+	mutex_lock(&fs_info->qgroup_ioctl_lock);
 	if (IS_ERR(trans)) {
 		ret = PTR_ERR(trans);
+		trans = NULL;
 		goto out;
 	}
 
+	if (!fs_info->quota_root)
+		goto out;
+
 	clear_bit(BTRFS_FS_QUOTA_ENABLED, &fs_info->flags);
 	btrfs_qgroup_wait_for_completion(fs_info, false);
 	spin_lock(&fs_info->qgroup_lock);
@@ -1088,13 +1125,13 @@ int btrfs_quota_disable(struct btrfs_fs_info *fs_info)
 	ret = btrfs_clean_quota_tree(trans, quota_root);
 	if (ret) {
 		btrfs_abort_transaction(trans, ret);
-		goto end_trans;
+		goto out;
 	}
 
 	ret = btrfs_del_root(trans, &quota_root->root_key);
 	if (ret) {
 		btrfs_abort_transaction(trans, ret);
-		goto end_trans;
+		goto out;
 	}
 
 	list_del(&quota_root->dirty_list);
@@ -1108,10 +1145,13 @@ int btrfs_quota_disable(struct btrfs_fs_info *fs_info)
 	free_extent_buffer(quota_root->commit_root);
 	kfree(quota_root);
 
-end_trans:
-	ret = btrfs_end_transaction(trans);
 out:
 	mutex_unlock(&fs_info->qgroup_ioctl_lock);
+	if (ret && trans)
+		btrfs_end_transaction(trans);
+	else if (trans)
+		ret = btrfs_end_transaction(trans);
+
 	return ret;
 }
 
