diff --git a/tokio/src/fs/file.rs b/tokio/src/fs/file.rs
index 8eeee68eb99..b25863d96a0 100644
--- a/tokio/src/fs/file.rs
+++ b/tokio/src/fs/file.rs
@@ -764,29 +764,27 @@ impl Inner {
 #[cfg(all(target_os = "linux", not(test)))]
 mod read_nowait {
     use crate::io::ReadBuf;
-    use libc::{c_int, c_void, iovec, off_t, preadv2};
+    use libc::{c_char, c_int, c_void, iovec, off_t, ssize_t};
     use std::{
         os::unix::prelude::AsRawFd,
-        sync::atomic::{AtomicBool, Ordering},
+        sync::atomic::{AtomicUsize, Ordering},
     };
 
-    static NONBLOCKING_READ_SUPPORTED: AtomicBool = AtomicBool::new(true);
+    type PReadV2 = unsafe fn(c_int, *const iovec, c_int, off_t, c_int) -> ssize_t;
+    // Although this is a usize we actually store a function pointer in it of type PReadV2, or the
+    // NO_PREADV2 sentinel value:
+    static PREADV2: AtomicUsize = AtomicUsize::new(0);
+    // Sentinel value, this isn't a valid function pointer:
+    const NO_PREADV2: usize = 1;
 
     pub(crate) fn try_nonblocking_read(
         file: &crate::fs::sys::File,
         dst: &mut ReadBuf<'_>,
     ) -> Option<std::io::Result<()>> {
-        if !NONBLOCKING_READ_SUPPORTED.load(Ordering::Relaxed) {
-            return None;
-        }
         let out = preadv2_safe(file, dst, -1, libc::RWF_NOWAIT);
         if let Err(err) = &out {
             match err.raw_os_error() {
-                Some(libc::ENOSYS) => {
-                    NONBLOCKING_READ_SUPPORTED.store(false, Ordering::Relaxed);
-                    return None;
-                }
-                Some(libc::ENOTSUP) | Some(libc::EAGAIN) => return None,
+                Some(libc::ENOTSUP) | Some(libc::EAGAIN) | Some(libc::ENOSYS) => return None,
                 _ => {}
             }
         }
@@ -800,6 +798,24 @@ mod read_nowait {
         flags: c_int,
     ) -> std::io::Result<()> {
         unsafe {
+            /* Dynamically load preadv2 symbol so we still work on glibc < 2.26 */
+            let preadv2 = match PREADV2.load(Ordering::Relaxed) {
+                NO_PREADV2 => return Err(std::io::Error::from_raw_os_error(libc::ENOSYS)),
+                0 => {
+                    let p = libc::dlsym(libc::RTLD_DEFAULT, "preadv2\0".as_ptr() as *const c_char);
+                    if p.is_null() {
+                        // libc doesn't support preadv2:
+                        PREADV2.store(NO_PREADV2, Ordering::Relaxed);
+                        return Err(std::io::Error::from_raw_os_error(libc::ENOSYS));
+                    } else {
+                        let u = std::mem::transmute(p);
+                        PREADV2.store(u, Ordering::Relaxed);
+                        u
+                    }
+                }
+                x => x,
+            };
+            let preadv2: PReadV2 = std::mem::transmute(preadv2);
             /* We have to defend against buffer overflows manually here.  The slice API makes
              * this fairly straightforward. */
             let unfilled = dst.unfilled_mut();
@@ -811,7 +827,12 @@ mod read_nowait {
              * other unsafe code that assumes that only they have access to that fd. */
             let bytes_read = preadv2(file.as_raw_fd(), &iov as *const iovec, 1, offset, flags);
             if bytes_read < 0 {
-                Err(std::io::Error::last_os_error())
+                let err = std::io::Error::last_os_error();
+                if err.raw_os_error() == Some(libc::ENOSYS) {
+                    // libc supports preadv2, but the kernel doesn't:
+                    PREADV2.store(NO_PREADV2, Ordering::Relaxed);
+                }
+                Err(err)
             } else {
                 /* preadv2 returns the number of bytes read, e.g. the number of bytes that have
                  * written into `unfilled`. So it's safe to assume that the data is now