diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_driver.c b/src/qemu/qemu_driver.c
index 0b4cc49f9c..b19ef5c79b 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_driver.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_driver.c
@@ -15259,6 +15259,12 @@ qemuDomainSnapshotCreateDiskActive(virQEMUDriverPtr driver,
                                           &diskdata, &ndiskdata) < 0)
         goto cleanup;
 
+    /* check whether there's anything to do */
+    if (ndiskdata == 0) {
+        ret = 0;
+        goto cleanup;
+    }
+
      /* Based on earlier qemuDomainSnapshotPrepare, all disks in this list are
       * now either VIR_DOMAIN_SNAPSHOT_LOCATION_NONE, or
       * VIR_DOMAIN_SNAPSHOT_LOCATION_EXTERNAL with a valid file name and