diff --git a/src/vm/VirtualMachine.cc b/src/vm/VirtualMachine.cc
index ff507bbbee..ceda4a7b2e 100644
--- a/src/vm/VirtualMachine.cc
+++ b/src/vm/VirtualMachine.cc
@@ -1685,8 +1685,6 @@ int VirtualMachine::get_image_from_disk(int disk_id, string& error_str)
                 goto error_image_id;
             }
 
-            disk->replace("SAVE", "YES");
-
             return iid;
         }
     }
@@ -1758,6 +1756,8 @@ int VirtualMachine::save_disk(const string& disk_id,
             oss << (img_id);
             disk->replace("SAVE_AS", oss.str());
 
+            disk->replace("SAVE", "YES");
+
             break;
         }
     }