diff --git a/nvme.c b/nvme.c
index 8a5756777f..aeca6aafbb 100644
--- a/nvme.c
+++ b/nvme.c
@@ -299,7 +299,48 @@ static bool is_blkdev(struct nvme_dev *dev)
 	return S_ISBLK(dev->direct.stat.st_mode);
 }
 
-static int open_dev_direct(struct nvme_dev **devp, char *devstr, int flags)
+static bool is_nvme_dev(char *dev)
+{
+	int instance;
+	int head_instance;
+
+	return sscanf(basename(dev), "nvme%dn%d", &instance, &head_instance) == 1;
+}
+
+static __u32 get_nsid(struct argconfig_commandline_options *opts)
+{
+	__u32 *nsid = argconfig_get_value(opts, "namespace-id");
+
+	if (nsid && *nsid != NVME_NSID_ALL)
+		return *nsid;
+
+	return NVME_NSID_NONE;
+}
+
+static int open_blkdev_direct(char *dev, int flags, __u32 nsid)
+{
+	_cleanup_free_ char *blkdev = NULL;
+	int fd = -1;
+
+	if (is_nvme_dev(dev) && nsid) {
+		if (asprintf(&blkdev, "%sn%d", dev, nsid) < 0)
+			blkdev = NULL;
+	}
+
+	if (blkdev) {
+		fd = open(blkdev, flags);
+		print_info("blkdev: %s, fd: %d\n", blkdev, fd);
+	}
+
+	if (fd < 0) {
+		fd = open(dev, flags);
+		print_info("dev: %s, fd: %d\n", dev, fd);
+	}
+
+	return fd;
+}
+
+static int open_dev_direct(struct nvme_dev **devp, char *devstr, int flags, __u32 nsid)
 {
 	struct nvme_dev *dev;
 	int err;
@@ -310,7 +351,7 @@ static int open_dev_direct(struct nvme_dev **devp, char *devstr, int flags)
 
 	dev->type = NVME_DEV_DIRECT;
 	dev->name = basename(devstr);
-	err = open(devstr, flags);
+	err = open_blkdev_direct(devstr, flags, nsid);
 	if (err < 0) {
 		nvme_show_perror(devstr);
 		goto err_free;
@@ -412,10 +453,12 @@ static int check_arg_dev(int argc, char **argv)
 	return 0;
 }
 
-static int get_dev(struct nvme_dev **dev, int argc, char **argv, int flags)
+static int get_dev(struct nvme_dev **dev, int argc, char **argv, int flags,
+		   struct argconfig_commandline_options *opts)
 {
 	char *devname;
 	int ret;
+	__u32 nsid = get_nsid(opts);
 
 	ret = check_arg_dev(argc, argv);
 	if (ret)
@@ -427,7 +470,7 @@ static int get_dev(struct nvme_dev **dev, int argc, char **argv, int flags)
 	if (!strncmp(devname, "mctp:", strlen("mctp:")))
 		ret = open_dev_mi_mctp(dev, devname);
 	else
-		ret = open_dev_direct(dev, devname, flags);
+		ret = open_dev_direct(dev, devname, flags, nsid);
 
 	return ret ? -errno : 0;
 }
@@ -457,7 +500,7 @@ int parse_and_open(struct nvme_dev **dev, int argc, char **argv,
 	if (ret)
 		return ret;
 
-	ret = get_dev(dev, argc, argv, O_RDONLY);
+	ret = get_dev(dev, argc, argv, O_RDONLY, opts);
 	if (ret < 0)
 		argconfig_print_help(desc, opts);
 
@@ -465,14 +508,14 @@ int parse_and_open(struct nvme_dev **dev, int argc, char **argv,
 }
 
 int open_exclusive(struct nvme_dev **dev, int argc, char **argv,
-		   int ignore_exclusive)
+		   int ignore_exclusive, struct argconfig_commandline_options *opts)
 {
 	int flags = O_RDONLY;
 
 	if (!ignore_exclusive)
 		flags |= O_EXCL;
 
-	return get_dev(dev, argc, argv, flags);
+	return get_dev(dev, argc, argv, flags, opts);
 }
 
 int validate_output_format(const char *format, nvme_print_flags_t *flags)
@@ -6182,7 +6225,7 @@ static int format_cmd(int argc, char **argv, struct command *cmd, struct plugin
 	if (err)
 		return err;
 
-	err = open_exclusive(&dev, argc, argv, cfg.force);
+	err = open_exclusive(&dev, argc, argv, cfg.force, opts);
 	if (err) {
 		if (errno == EBUSY) {
 			fprintf(stderr, "Failed to open %s.\n", basename(argv[optind]));
@@ -7372,6 +7415,23 @@ static int copy_cmd(int argc, char **argv, struct command *cmd, struct plugin *p
 	return err;
 }
 
+static void io_cmd_show_error(struct nvme_dev *dev, int err, const char *cmd)
+{
+	if (err > 0) {
+		nvme_show_status(err);
+		return;
+	}
+
+	nvme_show_init();
+
+	nvme_show_error("%s: %s", cmd, nvme_strerror(errno));
+
+	if (is_chardev(dev))
+		nvme_show_result("char device provided but blkdev is needed, e.g. /dev/nvme0n1");
+
+	nvme_show_finish();
+}
+
 static int flush_cmd(int argc, char **argv, struct command *cmd, struct plugin *plugin)
 {
 	const char *desc = "Commit data and metadata associated with\n"
@@ -7407,10 +7467,8 @@ static int flush_cmd(int argc, char **argv, struct command *cmd, struct plugin *
 	}
 
 	err = nvme_flush(dev_fd(dev), cfg.namespace_id);
-	if (err < 0)
-		nvme_show_error("flush: %s", nvme_strerror(errno));
-	else if (err != 0)
-		nvme_show_status(err);
+	if (err)
+		io_cmd_show_error(dev, err, "flush");
 	else
 		printf("NVMe Flush: success\n");
 
@@ -7863,7 +7921,7 @@ static int submit_io(int opcode, char *command, const char *desc, int argc, char
 		err = parse_args(argc, argv, desc, opts);
 		if (err)
 			return err;
-		err = open_exclusive(&dev, argc, argv, cfg.force);
+		err = open_exclusive(&dev, argc, argv, cfg.force, opts);
 		if (err) {
 			if (errno == EBUSY) {
 				fprintf(stderr, "Failed to open %s.\n", basename(argv[optind]));
diff --git a/util/argconfig.c b/util/argconfig.c
index 34607202ae..9a3faf0ed6 100644
--- a/util/argconfig.c
+++ b/util/argconfig.c
@@ -429,3 +429,16 @@ bool argconfig_parse_seen(struct argconfig_commandline_options *s,
 
 	return false;
 }
+
+void *argconfig_get_value(struct argconfig_commandline_options *s, const char *option)
+{
+	for (; s && s->option; s++) {
+		if (!strcmp(s->option, option)) {
+			if (s->seen)
+				return s->default_value;
+			break;
+		}
+	}
+
+	return NULL;
+}
diff --git a/util/argconfig.h b/util/argconfig.h
index 44d2e4e6ab..f0d2c36b2d 100644
--- a/util/argconfig.h
+++ b/util/argconfig.h
@@ -190,4 +190,5 @@ int argconfig_parse_comma_sep_array_u64(char *string, __u64 *val,
 void print_word_wrapped(const char *s, int indent, int start, FILE *stream);
 bool argconfig_parse_seen(struct argconfig_commandline_options *options,
 			  const char *option);
+void *argconfig_get_value(struct argconfig_commandline_options *s, const char *option);
 #endif