diff --git a/src/conf/numa_conf.c b/src/conf/numa_conf.c
index 517eaa1439..8a0f6867e7 100644
--- a/src/conf/numa_conf.c
+++ b/src/conf/numa_conf.c
@@ -663,10 +663,10 @@ virDomainNumaDefCPUParseXML(virDomainNumaPtr def,
     int ret = -1;
 
     /* check if NUMA definition is present */
-    if (!virXPathNode("/domain/cpu/numa[1]", ctxt))
+    if (!virXPathNode("./cpu/numa[1]", ctxt))
         return 0;
 
-    if ((n = virXPathNodeSet("/domain/cpu/numa[1]/cell", ctxt, &nodes)) <= 0) {
+    if ((n = virXPathNodeSet("./cpu/numa[1]/cell", ctxt, &nodes)) <= 0) {
         virReportError(VIR_ERR_XML_ERROR, "%s",
                        _("NUMA topology defined without NUMA cells"));
         goto cleanup;