diff --git a/cmd/ab_select.c b/cmd/ab_select.c
index 6298fcfb60..3e46663d6e 100644
--- a/cmd/ab_select.c
+++ b/cmd/ab_select.c
@@ -22,7 +22,8 @@ static int do_ab_select(struct cmd_tbl *cmdtp, int flag, int argc,
 
 	/* Lookup the "misc" partition from argv[2] and argv[3] */
 	if (part_get_info_by_dev_and_name_or_num(argv[2], argv[3],
-						 &dev_desc, &part_info) < 0) {
+						 &dev_desc, &part_info,
+						 false) < 0) {
 		return CMD_RET_FAILURE;
 	}
 
diff --git a/disk/part.c b/disk/part.c
index 2a6b85e81b..03f283307f 100644
--- a/disk/part.c
+++ b/disk/part.c
@@ -737,7 +737,8 @@ static int part_get_info_by_dev_and_name(const char *dev_iface,
 int part_get_info_by_dev_and_name_or_num(const char *dev_iface,
 					 const char *dev_part_str,
 					 struct blk_desc **dev_desc,
-					 struct disk_partition *part_info)
+					 struct disk_partition *part_info,
+					 int allow_whole_dev)
 {
 	int ret;
 
@@ -751,7 +752,7 @@ int part_get_info_by_dev_and_name_or_num(const char *dev_iface,
 	 * directly.
 	 */
 	ret = blk_get_device_part_str(dev_iface, dev_part_str,
-				      dev_desc, part_info, 1);
+				      dev_desc, part_info, allow_whole_dev);
 	if (ret < 0)
 		printf("Couldn't find partition %s %s\n",
 		       dev_iface, dev_part_str);
diff --git a/include/part.h b/include/part.h
index 815515aa80..7f78271a98 100644
--- a/include/part.h
+++ b/include/part.h
@@ -227,12 +227,16 @@ int part_get_info_by_name(struct blk_desc *dev_desc,
  * @param[in] dev_part_str Input partition description, like "0#misc" or "0:1"
  * @param[out] dev_desc	Place to store the device description pointer
  * @param[out] part_info Place to store the partition information
+ * @param[in] allow_whole_dev true to allow the user to select partition 0
+ *		(which means the whole device), false to require a valid
+ *		partition number >= 1
  * @return 0 on success, or a negative on error
  */
 int part_get_info_by_dev_and_name_or_num(const char *dev_iface,
 					 const char *dev_part_str,
 					 struct blk_desc **dev_desc,
-					 struct disk_partition *part_info);
+					 struct disk_partition *part_info,
+					 int allow_whole_dev);
 
 /**
  * part_set_generic_name() - create generic partition like hda1 or sdb2