diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c b/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c
index 5dc3d73f48..2dd02a3f69 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c
@@ -6372,6 +6372,23 @@ qemuDomainDetermineDiskChain(virQEMUDriverPtr driver,
     if (force_probe)
         virStorageSourceBackingStoreClear(src);
 
+    /* There is no need to check the backing chain for disks without backing
+     * support */
+    if (virStorageSourceIsLocalStorage(src) &&
+        src->format > VIR_STORAGE_FILE_NONE &&
+        src->format < VIR_STORAGE_FILE_BACKING) {
+
+        if (!virFileExists(src->path)) {
+            if (report_broken)
+                virStorageFileReportBrokenChain(errno, src, disk->src);
+
+            goto cleanup;
+        }
+
+        ret = 0;
+        goto cleanup;
+    }
+
     /* skip to the end of the chain if there is any */
     while (virStorageSourceHasBacking(src)) {
         if (report_broken &&
diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_process.c b/src/qemu/qemu_process.c
index 8574f2b413..ea70885dd9 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_process.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_process.c
@@ -5555,20 +5555,10 @@ qemuProcessPrepareHostStorage(virQEMUDriverPtr driver,
     for (i = vm->def->ndisks; i > 0; i--) {
         size_t idx = i - 1;
         virDomainDiskDefPtr disk = vm->def->disks[idx];
-        virStorageFileFormat format = virDomainDiskGetFormat(disk);
 
         if (virStorageSourceIsEmpty(disk->src))
             continue;
 
-        /* There is no need to check the backing chain for disks
-         * without backing support, the fact that the file exists is
-         * more than enough */
-        if (virStorageSourceIsLocalStorage(disk->src) &&
-            format > VIR_STORAGE_FILE_NONE &&
-            format < VIR_STORAGE_FILE_BACKING &&
-            virFileExists(virDomainDiskGetSource(disk)))
-            continue;
-
         if (qemuDomainDetermineDiskChain(driver, vm, disk, true, true) >= 0)
             continue;