diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_command.c b/src/qemu/qemu_command.c
index b2c6bd43a2..a5abd814a2 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_command.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_command.c
@@ -1683,13 +1683,6 @@ qemuBuildDiskDeviceStr(const virDomainDef *def,
         }
 
         if (disk->queues) {
-            if (!virQEMUCapsGet(qemuCaps, QEMU_CAPS_VIRTIO_BLK_NUM_QUEUES)) {
-                virReportError(VIR_ERR_CONFIG_UNSUPPORTED, "%s",
-                               _("num-queues property isn't supported by this "
-                                 "QEMU binary"));
-                return NULL;
-            }
-
             virBufferAsprintf(&opt, ",num-queues=%u", disk->queues);
         }
 
diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_validate.c b/src/qemu/qemu_validate.c
index aa036785fd..bfd8ce531d 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_validate.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_validate.c
@@ -2263,6 +2263,15 @@ qemuValidateDomainDeviceDefDiskFrontend(const virDomainDiskDef *disk,
         break;
 
     case VIR_DOMAIN_DISK_BUS_VIRTIO:
+        if (disk->queues &&
+            !virQEMUCapsGet(qemuCaps, QEMU_CAPS_VIRTIO_BLK_NUM_QUEUES)) {
+            virReportError(VIR_ERR_CONFIG_UNSUPPORTED, "%s",
+                           _("num-queues property isn't supported by this "
+                             "QEMU binary"));
+            return -1;
+        }
+        break;
+
     case VIR_DOMAIN_DISK_BUS_XEN:
     case VIR_DOMAIN_DISK_BUS_SD:
         break;