diff --git a/mkinitramfs b/mkinitramfs
index d6ce859..a5a6470 100755
--- a/mkinitramfs
+++ b/mkinitramfs
@@ -196,15 +196,20 @@ lzop)	kconfig_sym=CONFIG_RD_LZO ;;
 lz4)	kconfig_sym=CONFIG_RD_LZ4 ;;
 zstd)	kconfig_sym=CONFIG_RD_ZSTD ;;
 esac
-while ! grep -q "^$kconfig_sym=y" "${kconfig}"; do
-	if [ "${compress}" = gzip ]; then
-		echo "E: gzip compression ($kconfig_sym) not supported by kernel" >&2
-		exit 1
-	fi
-	echo "W: ${compress} compression ($kconfig_sym) not supported by kernel, using gzip" >&2
-	compress=gzip
-	kconfig_sym=CONFIG_RD_GZIP
-done
+if [ -e "${kconfig}" ]; then
+	while ! grep -q "^$kconfig_sym=y" "${kconfig}"; do
+		if [ "${compress}" = gzip ]; then
+			echo "E: gzip compression ($kconfig_sym) not supported by kernel" >&2
+			exit 1
+		fi
+		echo "W: ${compress} compression ($kconfig_sym) not supported by kernel, using gzip" >&2
+		compress=gzip
+		kconfig_sym=CONFIG_RD_GZIP
+	done
+else
+	echo "W: Kernel configuration ${kconfig} is missing, ${compress} compression" \
+		"support ($kconfig_sym) cannot be checked and is assumed to be available" >&2
+fi
 
 if [ -z "${compresslevel:-}" ]; then
 	compresslevel=${COMPRESSLEVEL:-}