diff --git a/cmd/bcb.c b/cmd/bcb.c
index 1622a90c97..02d0c70d87 100644
--- a/cmd/bcb.c
+++ b/cmd/bcb.c
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@
 #include <part.h>
 #include <malloc.h>
 #include <memalign.h>
+#include <linux/err.h>
 
 enum bcb_cmd {
 	BCB_CMD_LOAD,
@@ -128,6 +129,16 @@ static int __bcb_load(int devnum, const char *partp)
 		goto err_read_fail;
 	}
 
+	/*
+	 * always select the USER mmc hwpart in case another
+	 * blk operation selected a different hwpart
+	 */
+	ret = blk_dselect_hwpart(desc, 0);
+	if (IS_ERR_VALUE(ret)) {
+		ret = -ENODEV;
+		goto err_read_fail;
+	}
+
 	part = simple_strtoul(partp, &endp, 0);
 	if (*endp == '\0') {
 		ret = part_get_info(desc, part, &info);