diff --git a/src/libvirt.c b/src/libvirt.c
index c154c7d144..c8af3e1e81 100644
--- a/src/libvirt.c
+++ b/src/libvirt.c
@@ -15285,6 +15285,9 @@ error:
  * the saved state itself, and will reuse it once the domain is being
  * restarted (automatically or via an explicit libvirt call).
  * As a result any running domain is sure to not have a managed saved image.
+ * This also implies that managed save only works on persistent domains,
+ * since the domain must still exist in order to use virDomainCreate() to
+ * restart it.
  *
  * If @flags includes VIR_DOMAIN_SAVE_BYPASS_CACHE, then libvirt will
  * attempt to bypass the file system cache while creating the file, or
diff --git a/src/libxl/libxl_driver.c b/src/libxl/libxl_driver.c
index 7cb362065b..516148f740 100644
--- a/src/libxl/libxl_driver.c
+++ b/src/libxl/libxl_driver.c
@@ -2132,6 +2132,11 @@ libxlDomainManagedSave(virDomainPtr dom, unsigned int flags)
         libxlError(VIR_ERR_OPERATION_INVALID, "%s", _("Domain is not running"));
         goto cleanup;
     }
+    if (!vm->persistent) {
+        libxlError(VIR_ERR_OPERATION_INVALID, "%s",
+                   _("cannot do managed save for transient domain"));
+        goto cleanup;
+    }
 
     name = libxlDomainManagedSavePath(driver, vm);
     if (name == NULL)
diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_driver.c b/src/qemu/qemu_driver.c
index 0d6470da65..19e749f1eb 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_driver.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_driver.c
@@ -2582,6 +2582,11 @@ qemuDomainManagedSave(virDomainPtr dom, unsigned int flags)
                         "%s", _("domain is not running"));
         goto cleanup;
     }
+    if (!vm->persistent) {
+        qemuReportError(VIR_ERR_OPERATION_INVALID, "%s",
+                        _("cannot do managed save for transient domain"));
+        goto cleanup;
+    }
 
     name = qemuDomainManagedSavePath(driver, vm);
     if (name == NULL)