diff --git a/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/i915_gem_gtt.c b/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/i915_gem_gtt.c
index 4e27e9950e45..a69cd1b5f8f2 100644
--- a/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/i915_gem_gtt.c
+++ b/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/i915_gem_gtt.c
@@ -1973,7 +1973,6 @@ static void gen6_ppgtt_cleanup(struct i915_address_space *vm)
 {
 	struct gen6_hw_ppgtt *ppgtt = to_gen6_ppgtt(i915_vm_to_ppgtt(vm));
 
-	i915_vma_unpin(ppgtt->vma);
 	i915_vma_destroy(ppgtt->vma);
 
 	gen6_ppgtt_free_pd(ppgtt);
@@ -2065,10 +2064,19 @@ static struct i915_vma *pd_vma_create(struct gen6_hw_ppgtt *ppgtt, int size)
 	return vma;
 }
 
-static int gen6_ppgtt_pin(struct i915_hw_ppgtt *base)
+int gen6_ppgtt_pin(struct i915_hw_ppgtt *base)
 {
 	struct gen6_hw_ppgtt *ppgtt = to_gen6_ppgtt(base);
 
+	/*
+	 * Workaround the limited maximum vma->pin_count and the aliasing_ppgtt
+	 * which will be pinned into every active context.
+	 * (When vma->pin_count becomes atomic, I expect we will naturally
+	 * need a larger, unpacked, type and kill this redundancy.)
+	 */
+	if (ppgtt->pin_count++)
+		return 0;
+
 	/*
 	 * PPGTT PDEs reside in the GGTT and consists of 512 entries. The
 	 * allocator works in address space sizes, so it's multiplied by page
@@ -2079,6 +2087,17 @@ static int gen6_ppgtt_pin(struct i915_hw_ppgtt *base)
 			    PIN_GLOBAL | PIN_HIGH);
 }
 
+void gen6_ppgtt_unpin(struct i915_hw_ppgtt *base)
+{
+	struct gen6_hw_ppgtt *ppgtt = to_gen6_ppgtt(base);
+
+	GEM_BUG_ON(!ppgtt->pin_count);
+	if (--ppgtt->pin_count)
+		return;
+
+	i915_vma_unpin(ppgtt->vma);
+}
+
 static struct i915_hw_ppgtt *gen6_ppgtt_create(struct drm_i915_private *i915)
 {
 	struct i915_ggtt * const ggtt = &i915->ggtt;
@@ -2128,21 +2147,8 @@ static struct i915_hw_ppgtt *gen6_ppgtt_create(struct drm_i915_private *i915)
 	if (err)
 		goto err_vma;
 
-	err = gen6_ppgtt_pin(&ppgtt->base);
-	if (err)
-		goto err_pd;
-
-	DRM_DEBUG_DRIVER("Allocated pde space (%lldM) at GTT entry: %llx\n",
-			 ppgtt->vma->node.size >> 20,
-			 ppgtt->vma->node.start / PAGE_SIZE);
-
-	DRM_DEBUG_DRIVER("Adding PPGTT at offset %x\n",
-			 ppgtt->base.pd.base.ggtt_offset << 10);
-
 	return &ppgtt->base;
 
-err_pd:
-	gen6_ppgtt_free_pd(ppgtt);
 err_vma:
 	i915_vma_destroy(ppgtt->vma);
 err_scratch:
diff --git a/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/i915_gem_gtt.h b/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/i915_gem_gtt.h
index c2f270c90bea..c20a4f06db37 100644
--- a/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/i915_gem_gtt.h
+++ b/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/i915_gem_gtt.h
@@ -413,6 +413,8 @@ struct gen6_hw_ppgtt {
 	struct i915_vma *vma;
 	gen6_pte_t __iomem *pd_addr;
 
+	unsigned int pin_count;
+
 	int (*switch_mm)(struct gen6_hw_ppgtt *ppgtt, struct i915_request *rq);
 };
 
@@ -627,6 +629,9 @@ static inline void i915_ppgtt_put(struct i915_hw_ppgtt *ppgtt)
 		kref_put(&ppgtt->ref, i915_ppgtt_release);
 }
 
+int gen6_ppgtt_pin(struct i915_hw_ppgtt *base);
+void gen6_ppgtt_unpin(struct i915_hw_ppgtt *base);
+
 void i915_check_and_clear_faults(struct drm_i915_private *dev_priv);
 void i915_gem_suspend_gtt_mappings(struct drm_i915_private *dev_priv);
 void i915_gem_restore_gtt_mappings(struct drm_i915_private *dev_priv);
diff --git a/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/intel_ringbuffer.c b/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/intel_ringbuffer.c
index d4ba522dd52f..c881af3d5f59 100644
--- a/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/intel_ringbuffer.c
+++ b/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/intel_ringbuffer.c
@@ -1195,6 +1195,27 @@ static void intel_ring_context_destroy(struct intel_context *ce)
 		__i915_gem_object_release_unless_active(ce->state->obj);
 }
 
+static int __context_pin_ppgtt(struct i915_gem_context *ctx)
+{
+	struct i915_hw_ppgtt *ppgtt;
+	int err = 0;
+
+	ppgtt = ctx->ppgtt ?: ctx->i915->mm.aliasing_ppgtt;
+	if (ppgtt)
+		err = gen6_ppgtt_pin(ppgtt);
+
+	return err;
+}
+
+static void __context_unpin_ppgtt(struct i915_gem_context *ctx)
+{
+	struct i915_hw_ppgtt *ppgtt;
+
+	ppgtt = ctx->ppgtt ?: ctx->i915->mm.aliasing_ppgtt;
+	if (ppgtt)
+		gen6_ppgtt_unpin(ppgtt);
+}
+
 static int __context_pin(struct intel_context *ce)
 {
 	struct i915_vma *vma;
@@ -1243,6 +1264,7 @@ static void __context_unpin(struct intel_context *ce)
 
 static void intel_ring_context_unpin(struct intel_context *ce)
 {
+	__context_unpin_ppgtt(ce->gem_context);
 	__context_unpin(ce);
 
 	i915_gem_context_put(ce->gem_context);
@@ -1340,6 +1362,10 @@ __ring_context_pin(struct intel_engine_cs *engine,
 	if (err)
 		goto err;
 
+	err = __context_pin_ppgtt(ce->gem_context);
+	if (err)
+		goto err_unpin;
+
 	i915_gem_context_get(ctx);
 
 	/* One ringbuffer to rule them all */
@@ -1348,6 +1374,8 @@ __ring_context_pin(struct intel_engine_cs *engine,
 
 	return ce;
 
+err_unpin:
+	__context_unpin(ce);
 err:
 	ce->pin_count = 0;
 	return ERR_PTR(err);
