diff --git a/tools/firmware-utils/src/mktplinkfw-lib.c b/tools/firmware-utils/src/mktplinkfw-lib.c
index 18da13dd04..b2b6de26db 100644
--- a/tools/firmware-utils/src/mktplinkfw-lib.c
+++ b/tools/firmware-utils/src/mktplinkfw-lib.c
@@ -236,19 +236,13 @@ int build_fw(size_t header_size)
 		goto out_free_buf;
 
 	if (!combined) {
-		if (rootfs_align)
-			p = buf + writelen;
-		else
-			p = buf + rootfs_ofs;
+		p = buf + rootfs_ofs;
 
 		ret = read_to_buf(&rootfs_info, p);
 		if (ret)
 			goto out_free_buf;
 
-		if (rootfs_align)
-			writelen += rootfs_info.file_size;
-		else
-			writelen = rootfs_ofs + rootfs_info.file_size;
+		writelen = rootfs_ofs + rootfs_info.file_size;
 
 		if (add_jffs2_eof)
 			writelen = pad_jffs2(buf, writelen, layout->fw_max_len);
diff --git a/tools/firmware-utils/src/mktplinkfw.c b/tools/firmware-utils/src/mktplinkfw.c
index 9bc112fe6c..ef19e10529 100644
--- a/tools/firmware-utils/src/mktplinkfw.c
+++ b/tools/firmware-utils/src/mktplinkfw.c
@@ -307,10 +307,10 @@ static int check_options(void)
 
 		if (rootfs_align) {
 			kernel_len += sizeof(struct fw_header);
-			kernel_len = ALIGN(kernel_len, rootfs_align);
+			rootfs_ofs = ALIGN(kernel_len, rootfs_align);
 			kernel_len -= sizeof(struct fw_header);
 
-			DBG("kernel length aligned to %u", kernel_len);
+			DBG("rootfs offset aligned to 0x%u", rootfs_ofs);
 
 			exceed_bytes = kernel_len + rootfs_info.file_size - (fw_max_len - sizeof(struct fw_header));
 			if (exceed_bytes > 0) {
diff --git a/tools/firmware-utils/src/mktplinkfw2.c b/tools/firmware-utils/src/mktplinkfw2.c
index 892c93f109..b6caf8a0e5 100644
--- a/tools/firmware-utils/src/mktplinkfw2.c
+++ b/tools/firmware-utils/src/mktplinkfw2.c
@@ -267,10 +267,10 @@ static int check_options(void)
 
 		if (rootfs_align) {
 			kernel_len += sizeof(struct fw_header);
-			kernel_len = ALIGN(kernel_len, rootfs_align);
+			rootfs_ofs = ALIGN(kernel_len, rootfs_align);
 			kernel_len -= sizeof(struct fw_header);
 
-			DBG("kernel length aligned to %u", kernel_len);
+			DBG("rootfs offset aligned to 0x%u", rootfs_ofs);
 
 			if (kernel_len + rootfs_info.file_size >
 			    layout->fw_max_len - sizeof(struct fw_header)) {