diff --git a/dracut-module-setup.sh b/dracut-module-setup.sh
index 21f7105..a6edc84 100755
--- a/dracut-module-setup.sh
+++ b/dracut-module-setup.sh
@@ -32,6 +32,9 @@ depends() {
                 modprobe -S $KDUMP_KERNELVER --dry-run $kmodule &>/dev/null || return 1
             fi
         done
+
+        # check that the dracut squash module is available
+        [ -d "$(dracut_module_path squash)" ] || return 1
     }
 
     if is_squash_available && ! is_fadump_capable; then
diff --git a/kexec-tools.spec b/kexec-tools.spec
index d7497e0..7cd9dfc 100644
--- a/kexec-tools.spec
+++ b/kexec-tools.spec
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ Requires(postun): systemd-units
 Requires(pre): coreutils sed zlib
 Requires: dracut >= 050
 Requires: dracut-network >= 050
-Requires: dracut-squash >= 050
+Recommends: dracut-squash >= 050
 Requires: ethtool
 BuildRequires: make
 BuildRequires: zlib-devel elfutils-devel glib2-devel bzip2-devel ncurses-devel bison flex lzo-devel snappy-devel