diff --git a/src/arena.c b/src/arena.c
index 884d1bf9..ab6006d7 100644
--- a/src/arena.c
+++ b/src/arena.c
@@ -1789,8 +1789,8 @@ arena_new(tsdn_t *tsdn, unsigned ind, const arena_config_t *config) {
 	 * We turn on the HPA if set to.  There are two exceptions:
 	 * - Custom extent hooks (we should only return memory allocated from
 	 *   them in that case).
-	 * - Arena 0 initialization.  In this case, we're mid-bootstrapping, and
-	 *   so arena_hpa_global is not yet initialized.
+	 * - Arena 0 initialization.  In this case, we're mid-bootstrapping,
+	 *   and so background_thread_enabled is not yet initialized.
 	 */
 	if (opt_hpa && ehooks_are_default(base_ehooks_get(base)) && ind != 0) {
 		hpa_shard_opts_t hpa_shard_opts = opt_hpa_opts;
diff --git a/src/jemalloc.c b/src/jemalloc.c
index 8ae72efb..55e85710 100644
--- a/src/jemalloc.c
+++ b/src/jemalloc.c
@@ -1964,13 +1964,6 @@ malloc_init_hard_a0_locked(void) {
 		} else {
 			opt_hpa = false;
 		}
-	} else if (opt_hpa) {
-		hpa_shard_opts_t hpa_shard_opts = opt_hpa_opts;
-		hpa_shard_opts.deferral_allowed = background_thread_enabled();
-		if (pa_shard_enable_hpa(TSDN_NULL, &a0->pa_shard,
-		    &hpa_shard_opts, &opt_hpa_sec_opts)) {
-			return true;
-		}
 	}
 
 	malloc_init_state = malloc_init_a0_initialized;
@@ -2225,6 +2218,20 @@ malloc_init_hard(void) {
 	    || background_thread_boot1(tsd_tsdn(tsd), b0get())) {
 		UNLOCK_RETURN(tsd_tsdn(tsd), true, true)
 	}
+	if (opt_hpa) {
+		/*
+		 * We didn't initialize arena 0 hpa_shard in arena_new, because
+		 * background_thread_enabled wasn't initialized yet, but we
+		 * need it to set correct value for deferral_allowed.
+		 */
+		arena_t *a0 = arena_get(tsd_tsdn(tsd), 0, false);
+		hpa_shard_opts_t hpa_shard_opts = opt_hpa_opts;
+		hpa_shard_opts.deferral_allowed = background_thread_enabled();
+		if (pa_shard_enable_hpa(tsd_tsdn(tsd), &a0->pa_shard,
+		    &hpa_shard_opts, &opt_hpa_sec_opts)) {
+			UNLOCK_RETURN(tsd_tsdn(tsd), true, true)
+		}
+	}
 	if (config_prof && prof_boot2(tsd, b0get())) {
 		UNLOCK_RETURN(tsd_tsdn(tsd), true, true)
 	}
diff --git a/test/unit/hpa_background_thread.c b/test/unit/hpa_background_thread.c
index e4abb63b..93f046b5 100644
--- a/test/unit/hpa_background_thread.c
+++ b/test/unit/hpa_background_thread.c
@@ -1,6 +1,31 @@
 #include "test/jemalloc_test.h"
 #include "test/sleep.h"
 
+TEST_BEGIN(test_hpa_background_thread_a0_initialized) {
+	/*
+	 * Arena 0 has dedicated initialization path.  We'd like to make sure
+	 * deferral_allowed value initialized correctly from the start of the
+	 * application.
+	 */
+	test_skip_if(!config_stats);
+	test_skip_if(!hpa_supported());
+	test_skip_if(!have_background_thread);
+	test_skip_if(san_guard_enabled());
+
+	bool enabled = false;
+	size_t sz = sizeof(enabled);
+	int err = mallctl("background_thread", (void *)&enabled, &sz, NULL, 0);
+	expect_d_eq(err, 0, "Unexpected mallctl() failure");
+	expect_true(enabled, "Background thread should be enabled");
+
+	arena_t *a0 = arena_get(TSDN_NULL, 0, false);
+	expect_ptr_ne(a0, NULL, "");
+	bool deferral_allowed = a0->pa_shard.hpa_shard.opts.deferral_allowed;
+	expect_true(deferral_allowed,
+	    "Should have deferral_allowed option enabled for arena #0");
+}
+TEST_END
+
 static void
 sleep_for_background_thread_interval(void) {
 	/*
@@ -207,6 +232,12 @@ main(void) {
 		opt_background_thread = true;
 	}
 	return test_no_reentrancy(
+	    /*
+	     * Unfortunately, order of tests is important here.  We need to
+	     * make sure arena #0 initialized correctly, before we start
+	     * turning background thread on and off in other tests.
+	     */
+	    test_hpa_background_thread_a0_initialized,
 	    test_hpa_background_thread_purges,
 	    test_hpa_background_thread_enable_disable);
 }