diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c b/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c
index 17fa71c21b..54d8bd0d3a 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c
@@ -9259,9 +9259,10 @@ qemuDomainAdjustMaxMemLock(virDomainObjPtr vm,
         vm->original_memlock = 0;
     }
 
-    /* Trying to set the memory locking limit to zero is a no-op */
-    if (virProcessSetMaxMemLock(vm->pid, bytes) < 0)
+    if (bytes > 0 &&
+        virProcessSetMaxMemLock(vm->pid, bytes) < 0) {
         return -1;
+    }
 
     return 0;
 }
diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_migration.c b/src/qemu/qemu_migration.c
index d7231f68ae..e44931dcfa 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_migration.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_migration.c
@@ -2950,6 +2950,7 @@ qemuMigrationDstPrepareAny(virQEMUDriverPtr driver,
     }
 
     if (STREQ_NULLABLE(protocol, "rdma") &&
+        vm->def->mem.hard_limit > 0 &&
         virProcessSetMaxMemLock(vm->pid, vm->def->mem.hard_limit << 10) < 0) {
         goto stopjob;
     }
@@ -4199,6 +4200,7 @@ qemuMigrationSrcRun(virQEMUDriverPtr driver,
     switch (spec->destType) {
     case MIGRATION_DEST_HOST:
         if (STREQ(spec->dest.host.protocol, "rdma") &&
+            vm->def->mem.hard_limit > 0 &&
             virProcessSetMaxMemLock(vm->pid, vm->def->mem.hard_limit << 10) < 0) {
             goto exit_monitor;
         }
diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_process.c b/src/qemu/qemu_process.c
index 6684065534..89ede27751 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_process.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_process.c
@@ -7018,9 +7018,18 @@ qemuProcessLaunch(virConnectPtr conn,
      * significant amount of memory, so we need to set the limit accordingly */
     maxMemLock = qemuDomainGetMemLockLimitBytes(vm->def, false);
 
-    virCommandSetMaxMemLock(cmd, maxMemLock);
-    virCommandSetMaxProcesses(cmd, cfg->maxProcesses);
-    virCommandSetMaxFiles(cmd, cfg->maxFiles);
+    /* For all these settings, zero indicates that the limit should
+     * not be set explicitly and the default/inherited limit should
+     * be applied instead */
+    if (maxMemLock > 0)
+        virCommandSetMaxMemLock(cmd, maxMemLock);
+    if (cfg->maxProcesses > 0)
+        virCommandSetMaxProcesses(cmd, cfg->maxProcesses);
+    if (cfg->maxFiles > 0)
+        virCommandSetMaxFiles(cmd, cfg->maxFiles);
+
+    /* In this case, however, zero means that core dumps should be
+     * disabled, and so we always need to set the limit explicitly */
     virCommandSetMaxCoreSize(cmd, cfg->maxCore);
 
     VIR_DEBUG("Setting up security labelling");