diff --git a/cmd/sf.c b/cmd/sf.c
index 30b2bd5ef6..730996c02b 100644
--- a/cmd/sf.c
+++ b/cmd/sf.c
@@ -604,7 +604,7 @@ static int do_spi_flash(struct cmd_tbl *cmdtp, int flag, int argc,
 		ret = do_spi_flash_read_write(argc, argv);
 	else if (strcmp(cmd, "erase") == 0)
 		ret = do_spi_flash_erase(argc, argv);
-	else if (strcmp(cmd, "protect") == 0)
+	else if (IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_SPI_FLASH_LOCK) && strcmp(cmd, "protect") == 0)
 		ret = do_spi_protect(argc, argv);
 	else if (IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_CMD_SF_TEST) && !strcmp(cmd, "test"))
 		ret = do_spi_flash_test(argc, argv);
@@ -629,8 +629,10 @@ U_BOOT_LONGHELP(sf,
 	"sf update addr offset|partition len	- erase and write `len' bytes from memory\n"
 	"					  at `addr' to flash at `offset'\n"
 	"					  or to start of mtd `partition'\n"
+#ifdef CONFIG_SPI_FLASH_LOCK
 	"sf protect lock/unlock sector len	- protect/unprotect 'len' bytes starting\n"
 	"					  at address 'sector'"
+#endif
 #ifdef CONFIG_CMD_SF_TEST
 	"\nsf test offset len		- run a very basic destructive test"
 #endif
diff --git a/drivers/mtd/spi/Kconfig b/drivers/mtd/spi/Kconfig
index 2b2efc8531..732b076045 100644
--- a/drivers/mtd/spi/Kconfig
+++ b/drivers/mtd/spi/Kconfig
@@ -134,6 +134,13 @@ config SPI_FLASH_BAR
 	  Bank/Extended address registers are used to access the flash
 	  which has size > 16MiB in 3-byte addressing.
 
+config SPI_FLASH_LOCK
+	bool "Enable the Locking feature"
+	default y
+	help
+	 Enable the SPI flash lock support. By default this is set to y.
+	 If you intend not to use the lock support you should say n here.
+
 config SPI_FLASH_UNLOCK_ALL
 	bool "Unlock the entire SPI flash on u-boot startup"
 	default y
diff --git a/drivers/mtd/spi/spi-nor-core.c b/drivers/mtd/spi/spi-nor-core.c
index db20feb4da..9a1801ba93 100644
--- a/drivers/mtd/spi/spi-nor-core.c
+++ b/drivers/mtd/spi/spi-nor-core.c
@@ -1100,6 +1100,7 @@ static int spansion_erase_non_uniform(struct spi_nor *nor, u32 addr,
 }
 #endif
 
+#if defined(CONFIG_SPI_FLASH_LOCK)
 #if defined(CONFIG_SPI_FLASH_STMICRO) || defined(CONFIG_SPI_FLASH_SST)
 /* Write status register and ensure bits in mask match written values */
 static int write_sr_and_check(struct spi_nor *nor, u8 status_new, u8 mask)
@@ -1387,6 +1388,7 @@ static int stm_is_unlocked(struct spi_nor *nor, loff_t ofs, uint64_t len)
 	return stm_is_unlocked_sr(nor, ofs, len, status);
 }
 #endif /* CONFIG_SPI_FLASH_STMICRO */
+#endif
 
 static const struct flash_info *spi_nor_read_id(struct spi_nor *nor)
 {
@@ -1462,6 +1464,7 @@ read_err:
 	return ret;
 }
 
+#if defined(CONFIG_SPI_FLASH_LOCK)
 #ifdef CONFIG_SPI_FLASH_SST
 /*
  * sst26 flash series has its own block protection implementation:
@@ -1730,6 +1733,8 @@ sst_write_err:
 	return ret;
 }
 #endif
+#endif
+
 /*
  * Write an address range to the nor chip.  Data must be written in
  * FLASH_PAGESIZE chunks.  The address range may be any size provided
@@ -4104,6 +4109,7 @@ int spi_nor_scan(struct spi_nor *nor)
 	mtd->_read = spi_nor_read;
 	mtd->_write = spi_nor_write;
 
+#if defined(CONFIG_SPI_FLASH_LOCK)
 #if defined(CONFIG_SPI_FLASH_STMICRO) || defined(CONFIG_SPI_FLASH_SST)
 	/* NOR protection support for STmicro/Micron chips and similar */
 	if (JEDEC_MFR(info) == SNOR_MFR_ST ||
@@ -4127,7 +4133,7 @@ int spi_nor_scan(struct spi_nor *nor)
 		nor->flash_is_unlocked = sst26_is_unlocked;
 	}
 #endif
-
+#endif
 	if (info->flags & USE_FSR)
 		nor->flags |= SNOR_F_USE_FSR;
 	if (info->flags & SPI_NOR_HAS_TB)