diff --git a/lib/commands/toolcontext.c b/lib/commands/toolcontext.c
index 301596482..dae177cb0 100644
--- a/lib/commands/toolcontext.c
+++ b/lib/commands/toolcontext.c
@@ -767,7 +767,10 @@ static int _process_config(struct cmd_context *cmd)
 	init_pv_min_size((uint64_t)pv_min_kb * (1024 >> SECTOR_SHIFT));
 
 	cmd->check_pv_dev_sizes = find_config_tree_bool(cmd, metadata_check_pv_device_sizes_CFG, NULL);
-	cmd->event_activation = find_config_tree_bool(cmd, global_event_activation_CFG, NULL);
+	cmd->event_activation = find_config_tree_int(cmd, global_event_activation_CFG, NULL);
+
+	if (!cmd->event_activation)
+		log_warn("WARNING: event_activation=0 has been removed, please update lvm.conf (using 1.)");
 
 	if (!process_profilable_config(cmd))
 		return_0;
diff --git a/lib/commands/toolcontext.h b/lib/commands/toolcontext.h
index f16322d4e..483b6f3dd 100644
--- a/lib/commands/toolcontext.h
+++ b/lib/commands/toolcontext.h
@@ -200,11 +200,11 @@ struct cmd_context {
 	unsigned print_device_id_not_found:1;	/* print devices file entries not found */
 	unsigned ignore_device_name_mismatch:1; /* skip updating devices file names */
 	unsigned backup_disabled:1;		/* skip repeated debug message */
-	unsigned event_activation:1;		/* whether event_activation is set */
 	unsigned udevoutput:1;
 	unsigned online_vg_file_removed:1;
 	unsigned disable_dm_devs:1;		/* temporarily disable use of dm devs cache */
 
+	int event_activation;			/* 1 enabled, 0 enabled (to handle compat), 2 disabled */
 	/*
 	 * Devices and filtering.
 	 */
diff --git a/lib/config/config_settings.h b/lib/config/config_settings.h
index bda6207d7..4f15d684f 100644
--- a/lib/config/config_settings.h
+++ b/lib/config/config_settings.h
@@ -1118,12 +1118,16 @@ cfg(global_lvdisplay_shows_full_device_path_CFG, "lvdisplay_shows_full_device_pa
 	"Previously this was always shown as /dev/vgname/lvname even when that\n"
 	"was never a valid path in the /dev filesystem.\n")
 
-cfg(global_event_activation_CFG, "event_activation", global_CFG_SECTION, CFG_DEFAULT_COMMENTED, CFG_TYPE_BOOL, 1, vsn(2, 3, 1), 0, 0, NULL,
-	"Disable event based autoactivation commands.\n"
-	"WARNING: setting this to zero may cause machine startup to fail.\n"
-	"Previously, setting this to zero would enable static autoactivation\n"
-	"services (via the lvm2-activation-generator), but the autoactivation\n"
-	"services and generator have been removed.\n")
+cfg(global_event_activation_CFG, "event_activation", global_CFG_SECTION, CFG_DEFAULT_COMMENTED, CFG_TYPE_INT, 1, vsn(2, 3, 1), 0, 0, NULL,
+	"Disable event based autoactivation commands by setting to 2.\n"
+	"Disabling this (setting to 2) may cause machine startup to fail.\n"
+	"Previously, setting this to 0 would disable event based autoactivation\n"
+	"and enable static autoactivation services (via lvm2-activation-generator).\n"
+	"Now that static autoactivation services have been removed, setting this\n"
+	"to 0 will keep event based autoactivation enabled (so 0 and 1 are the\n"
+	"same.) Setting this to 2 disables both event and static autoactivation\n"
+	"commands (the lvm udev rule will continue to run those commands, but they\n"
+	"will exit when they detect this setting.\n")
 
 cfg(global_use_lvmetad_CFG, "use_lvmetad", global_CFG_SECTION, CFG_DEFAULT_COMMENTED, CFG_TYPE_BOOL, 0, vsn(2, 2, 93), 0, vsn(2, 3, 0), NULL,
 	NULL)
diff --git a/man/lvmautoactivation.7_main b/man/lvmautoactivation.7_main
index 808ea0d9f..bdea949b6 100644
--- a/man/lvmautoactivation.7_main
+++ b/man/lvmautoactivation.7_main
@@ -178,9 +178,9 @@ concurrent commands attempt to activate a VG at once.
 .SS static autoactivation
 .P
 A static autoactivation method is no longer provided by lvm.
-Setting event_activation=0 still disables event based autoactivation.
-WARNING: disabling event activation without an alternative may prevent a
-system from booting.  A custom systemd service could be written to run
+Setting event_activation=0 now leaves event based autoactivation
+enabled, and disabling event based autoactivation requires setting
+event_activation=2. A custom systemd service could be written to run
 autoactivation during system startup, in which case disabling event
 autoactivation may be useful.
 .
diff --git a/test/shell/pvscan-autoactivate.sh b/test/shell/pvscan-autoactivate.sh
index 297ceb96d..febb35842 100644
--- a/test/shell/pvscan-autoactivate.sh
+++ b/test/shell/pvscan-autoactivate.sh
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ _clear_online_files() {
 aux prepare_devs 8 16
 
 # Check 'pvscan' is ignored when event_activation is 0
-pvscan --cache -aay -v --config 'global/event_activation=0' 2>&1 | tee out
+pvscan --cache -aay -v --config 'global/event_activation=2' 2>&1 | tee out
 grep "Ignoring pvscan" out
 
 vgcreate $vg1 "$dev1" "$dev2"
diff --git a/tools/args.h b/tools/args.h
index 3f4580b8d..23358e897 100644
--- a/tools/args.h
+++ b/tools/args.h
@@ -355,7 +355,7 @@ arg(checkcomplete_ARG, '\0', "checkcomplete", 0, 0, 0,
     "and print \"complete\" or \"incomplete\" for each listed\n"
     "VG or LV.  This option is used as a part of event-based\n"
     "autoactivation, so pvscan will do nothing if this option\n"
-    "is set and event_activation=0 in the config settings.\n")
+    "is set and event_activation=2 (disabled) in the config settings.\n")
 
 arg(lockopt_ARG, '\0', "lockopt", string_VAL, 0, 0,
     "Used to pass options for special cases to lvmlockd.\n"
diff --git a/tools/pvscan.c b/tools/pvscan.c
index dcf183a46..d05b8fb7a 100644
--- a/tools/pvscan.c
+++ b/tools/pvscan.c
@@ -1652,8 +1652,8 @@ static int _get_autoactivation(struct cmd_context *cmd, int event_activation, in
 		return 1;
 	}
 	
-	if (!event_activation) {
-		log_print_pvscan(cmd, "Skip pvscan for event with event_activation=0.");
+	if (event_activation == 2) {
+		log_print_pvscan(cmd, "Skip pvscan for event with event_activation=2.");
 		*skip_command = 1;
 		return 1;
 	}
@@ -1680,32 +1680,32 @@ int pvscan_cache_cmd(struct cmd_context *cmd, int argc, char **argv)
 
 	cmd->ignore_device_name_mismatch = 1;
 
-	event_activation = find_config_tree_bool(cmd, global_event_activation_CFG, NULL);
+	event_activation = find_config_tree_int(cmd, global_event_activation_CFG, NULL);
 
-	if (do_activate && !event_activation) {
-		log_verbose("Ignoring pvscan --cache -aay because event_activation is disabled.");
+	if (do_activate && (event_activation == 2)) {
+		log_verbose("Ignoring pvscan --cache -aay because event_activation is disabled (2).");
 		return ECMD_PROCESSED;
 	}
 
 	/*
 	 * lvm udev rules call:
 	 *   pvscan --cache --listvg|--listlvs --checkcomplete PV
-	 * when PVs appear, even if event_activation=0 in lvm.conf.
+	 * when PVs appear, even if event_activation=2 in lvm.conf.
 	 *
 	 * The udev rules will do autoactivation if they see complete
 	 * VGs/LVs reported from the pvscan.
 	 *
-	 * When event_activation=0 we do not want to do autoactivation
+	 * When event_activation=2 we do not want to do autoactivation
 	 * from udev events, so we need the pvscan to not report any
-	 * complete VGs/LVs when event_activation=0 so that the udev
+	 * complete VGs/LVs when event_activation=2 so that the udev
 	 * rules do not attempt to autoactivate.
 	 */
 
-	if (arg_is_set(cmd, checkcomplete_ARG) && !event_activation) {
+	if (arg_is_set(cmd, checkcomplete_ARG) && (event_activation == 2)) {
 		if (arg_is_set(cmd, udevoutput_ARG))
 			printf("LVM_EVENT_ACTIVATION=0\n");
 		else
-			log_print_pvscan(cmd, "Ignoring pvscan with --checkcomplete because event_activation is disabled.");
+			log_print_pvscan(cmd, "Ignoring pvscan with --checkcomplete because event_activation is disabled (2).");
 		return ECMD_PROCESSED;
 	}
 
@@ -1734,9 +1734,9 @@ int pvscan_cache_cmd(struct cmd_context *cmd, int argc, char **argv)
 		if (!_pvscan_cache_all(cmd, argc, argv, &complete_vgnames))
 			return ECMD_FAILED;
 	} else {
-		if (!arg_is_set(cmd, checkcomplete_ARG) && !event_activation) {
+		if (!arg_is_set(cmd, checkcomplete_ARG) && (event_activation == 2)) {
 			/* Avoid doing anything for device removal: pvscan --cache <devno> */
-			log_verbose("Ignoring pvscan --cache because event_activation is disabled.");
+			log_verbose("Ignoring pvscan --cache because event_activation is disabled (2).");
 			return ECMD_PROCESSED;
 		}
 
diff --git a/tools/toollib.c b/tools/toollib.c
index b08c044fa..554359c26 100644
--- a/tools/toollib.c
+++ b/tools/toollib.c
@@ -829,7 +829,7 @@ int lv_change_activate(struct cmd_context *cmd, struct logical_volume *lv,
 	 * user may want to take charge of activation changes to the VG
 	 * and not have the system autoactivation interfere.
 	 */
-	if (!is_change_activating(activate) && cmd->event_activation &&
+	if (!is_change_activating(activate) && (cmd->event_activation != 2) &&
 	    !cmd->online_vg_file_removed) {
 		cmd->online_vg_file_removed = 1;
 		online_vg_file_remove(lv->vg->name);
diff --git a/tools/vgchange.c b/tools/vgchange.c
index fc076c1d5..3d013f97b 100644
--- a/tools/vgchange.c
+++ b/tools/vgchange.c
@@ -755,8 +755,8 @@ static int _vgchange_autoactivation_setup(struct cmd_context *cmd,
 		return 1;
 	}
 
-	if (!find_config_tree_bool(cmd, global_event_activation_CFG, NULL)) {
-		log_print("Skip vgchange for event and event_activation=0.");
+	if (find_config_tree_int(cmd, global_event_activation_CFG, NULL) == 2) {
+		log_print("Skip vgchange for event and event_activation disabled (2).");
 		*skip_command = 1;
 		return 1;
 	}
diff --git a/udev/69-dm-lvm.rules.in b/udev/69-dm-lvm.rules.in
index 14e7dd26d..77b915935 100644
--- a/udev/69-dm-lvm.rules.in
+++ b/udev/69-dm-lvm.rules.in
@@ -72,7 +72,7 @@ ENV{SYSTEMD_READY}="1"
 # and uses temp files under /run/lvm to check if
 # other PVs in the VG are present.
 #
-# If event_activation=0 in lvm.conf, this pvscan
+# If event_activation=2 in lvm.conf, this pvscan
 # (using checkcomplete) will do nothing, so that
 # no event-based autoactivation will be happen.
 #