diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/mpich/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/mpich/package.py
index 3398da3f5a..12815e5446 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/mpich/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/mpich/package.py
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ class Mpich(AutotoolsPackage, CudaPackage, ROCmPackage):
         "pmi",
         default="pmi",
         description="""PMI interface.""",
-        values=("off", "pmi", "pmi2", "pmix", "cray"),
+        values=("pmi", "pmi2", "pmix", "cray"),
         multi=False,
     )
     variant(
@@ -385,8 +385,6 @@ def is_disabled(text):
             if re.search(r"--with-thread-package=argobots", output):
                 variants.append("+argobots")
 
-            if re.search(r"--with-pmi=no", output):
-                variants.append("pmi=off")
             elif re.search(r"--with-pmi=simple", output):
                 variants.append("pmi=pmi")
             elif re.search(r"--with-pmi=pmi2/simple", output):