diff --git a/lib/commands/toolcontext.h b/lib/commands/toolcontext.h
index 4069b6116..b5c1d8a90 100644
--- a/lib/commands/toolcontext.h
+++ b/lib/commands/toolcontext.h
@@ -194,6 +194,7 @@ struct cmd_context {
 	unsigned create_edit_devices_file:1;	/* command expects to create and/or edit devices file */
 	unsigned edit_devices_file:1;		/* command expects to edit devices file */
 	unsigned filter_deviceid_skip:1;	/* don't use filter-deviceid */
+	unsigned filter_regex_skip:1;		/* don't use filter-regex */
 	unsigned filter_regex_with_devices_file:1; /* use filter-regex even when devices file is enabled */
 	unsigned filter_nodata_only:1;          /* only use filters that do not require data from the dev */
 	unsigned run_by_dmeventd:1;		/* command is being run by dmeventd */
diff --git a/lib/filters/filter-regex.c b/lib/filters/filter-regex.c
index d9ed0104c..40dc8aa1b 100644
--- a/lib/filters/filter-regex.c
+++ b/lib/filters/filter-regex.c
@@ -161,6 +161,9 @@ static int _accept_p(struct cmd_context *cmd, struct dev_filter *f, struct devic
 	if (cmd->enable_devices_list)
 		return 1;
 
+	if (cmd->filter_regex_skip)
+		return 1;
+
 	if (cmd->enable_devices_file && !cmd->filter_regex_with_devices_file) {
 		/* can't warn in create_filter because enable_devices_file is set later */
 		if (rf->config_filter && !rf->warned_filter) {
@@ -250,3 +253,46 @@ struct dev_filter *regex_filter_create(const struct dm_config_value *patterns, i
 	dm_pool_destroy(mem);
 	return NULL;
 }
+
+static int _filter_contains_symlink(struct cmd_context *cmd, int filter_cfg)
+{
+	const struct dm_config_node *cn;
+	const struct dm_config_value *cv;
+	const char *fname;
+		
+	if ((cn = find_config_tree_array(cmd, filter_cfg, NULL))) {
+		for (cv = cn->v; cv; cv = cv->next) {
+			if (cv->type != DM_CFG_STRING)
+				continue;
+			if (!cv->v.str)
+				continue;
+			
+			fname = cv->v.str;
+		
+			if (fname[0] != 'a')
+				continue;
+	
+			if (strstr(fname, "/dev/disk/"))
+				return 1;
+			if (strstr(fname, "/dev/mapper/"))
+				return 1;
+		
+			/* In case /dev/disk/by was omitted */
+			if (strstr(fname, "lvm-pv-uuid"))
+				return 1;
+			if (strstr(fname, "dm-uuid"))
+				return 1;
+			if (strstr(fname, "wwn-"))
+				return 1;
+		}
+	}
+
+	return 0;
+}
+
+int regex_filter_contains_symlink(struct cmd_context *cmd)
+{
+	return _filter_contains_symlink(cmd, devices_filter_CFG) ||
+	       _filter_contains_symlink(cmd, devices_global_filter_CFG);
+}
+
diff --git a/lib/filters/filter.h b/lib/filters/filter.h
index 4cdfa2c9b..0678e5e11 100644
--- a/lib/filters/filter.h
+++ b/lib/filters/filter.h
@@ -64,4 +64,6 @@ struct dev_filter *usable_filter_create(struct cmd_context *cmd, struct dev_type
 #define DEV_FILTERED_DEVICES_LIST	0x00001000
 #define DEV_FILTERED_IS_LV		0x00002000
 
+int regex_filter_contains_symlink(struct cmd_context *cmd);
+
 #endif 	/* _LVM_FILTER_H */
diff --git a/lib/label/label.c b/lib/label/label.c
index f845abb96..42d7b6709 100644
--- a/lib/label/label.c
+++ b/lib/label/label.c
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@
 #include "lib/format_text/layout.h"
 #include "lib/device/device_id.h"
 #include "lib/device/online.h"
+#include "lib/filters/filter.h"
 
 #include <sys/stat.h>
 #include <fcntl.h>
@@ -1099,6 +1100,20 @@ int label_scan_vg_online(struct cmd_context *cmd, const char *vgname,
 		log_debug("Skipping device_id filtering due to devname ids.");
 	}
 
+	/*
+	 * See corresponding code in pvscan.  This function is used during
+	 * startup autoactivation when udev has not created all symlinks, so
+	 * regex filter containing symlinks doesn't work.  pvscan has code
+	 * to properly check devs against the filter using DEVLINKS.  The
+	 * pvscan will only create pvs_online files for devs that pass the
+	 * filter.  We get devs from the pvs_online files, so we inherit the
+	 * regex filtering from pvscan and don't have to do it ourself.
+	 */
+	if (!cmd->enable_devices_file &&
+	    !cmd->enable_devices_list &&
+	    regex_filter_contains_symlink(cmd))
+		cmd->filter_regex_skip = 1;
+
 	cmd->filter_nodata_only = 1;
 
 	dm_list_iterate_items_safe(devl, devl2, &devs) {
@@ -1179,6 +1194,8 @@ int label_scan_vg_online(struct cmd_context *cmd, const char *vgname,
 	if (relax_deviceid_filter)
 		cmd->filter_deviceid_skip = 0;
 
+	cmd->filter_regex_skip = 0;
+
 	free_po_list(&pvs_online);
 
 	if (dm_list_empty(&devs)) {
diff --git a/tools/pvscan.c b/tools/pvscan.c
index 71485610b..8f60b2522 100644
--- a/tools/pvscan.c
+++ b/tools/pvscan.c
@@ -803,49 +803,6 @@ out:
 	return ret;
 }
 
-/*
- * The optimization in which only the pvscan arg devname is added to dev-cache
- * does not work if there's an lvm.conf filter containing symlinks to the dev
- * like /dev/disk/by-id/lvm-pv-uuid-xyz entries.  A full dev_cache_scan will
- * associate the symlinks with the system dev name passed to pvscan, which lets
- * filter-regex match the devname with the symlink name in the filter.
- */
-static int _filter_uses_symlinks(struct cmd_context *cmd, int filter_cfg)
-{
-	const struct dm_config_node *cn;
-	const struct dm_config_value *cv;
-	const char *fname;
-
-	if ((cn = find_config_tree_array(cmd, filter_cfg, NULL))) {
-        	for (cv = cn->v; cv; cv = cv->next) {
-			if (cv->type != DM_CFG_STRING)
-				continue;
-			if (!cv->v.str)
-				continue;
-
-			fname = cv->v.str;
-
-			if (fname[0] != 'a')
-				continue;
-
-			if (strstr(fname, "/dev/disk/"))
-				return 1;
-			if (strstr(fname, "/dev/mapper/"))
-				return 1;
-
-			/* In case /dev/disk/by was omitted */
-			if (strstr(fname, "lvm-pv-uuid"))
-				return 1;
-			if (strstr(fname, "dm-uuid"))
-				return 1;
-			if (strstr(fname, "wwn-"))
-				return 1;
-		}
-	}
-
-	return 0;
-}
-
 struct pvscan_arg {
 	struct dm_list list;
 	const char *devname;
@@ -1544,9 +1501,9 @@ static int _pvscan_cache_args(struct cmd_context *cmd, int argc, char **argv,
 	 * be usable by that symlink name yet.
 	 */
 	if ((dm_list_size(&pvscan_devs) == 1) &&
-	    !cmd->enable_devices_file && !cmd->enable_devices_list &&
-	    (_filter_uses_symlinks(cmd, devices_filter_CFG) ||
-	     _filter_uses_symlinks(cmd, devices_global_filter_CFG))) {
+	    !cmd->enable_devices_file &&
+	    !cmd->enable_devices_list &&
+	    regex_filter_contains_symlink(cmd)) {
 		char *env_str;
 		struct dm_list *env_aliases;
 		devl = dm_list_item(dm_list_first(&pvscan_devs), struct device_list);
diff --git a/tools/vgchange.c b/tools/vgchange.c
index 09ade96a6..7d1bbd70a 100644
--- a/tools/vgchange.c
+++ b/tools/vgchange.c
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@
 #include "tools.h"
 #include "lib/device/device_id.h"
 #include "lib/label/hints.h"
+#include "lib/filters/filter.h"
 
 struct vgchange_params {
 	int lock_start_count;