diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c b/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c
index f9726636b4..8659b861d8 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c
@@ -2922,16 +2922,6 @@ qemuDomainDefValidate(const virDomainDef *def,
         }
     }
 
-    /* Memory locking can only work properly if the memory locking limit
-     * for the QEMU process has been raised appropriately: the default one
-     * is extrememly low, so there's no way the guest will fit in there */
-    if (def->mem.locked && !virMemoryLimitIsSet(def->mem.hard_limit)) {
-        virReportError(VIR_ERR_CONFIG_UNSUPPORTED, "%s",
-                       _("Setting <memoryBacking><locked> requires "
-                         "<memtune><hard_limit> to be set as well"));
-        goto cleanup;
-    }
-
     if (qemuDomainDefValidateVideo(def) < 0)
         goto cleanup;
 
diff --git a/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/qemuxml2argv-mlock-on.xml b/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/qemuxml2argv-mlock-on.xml
index 2046663743..20a5eaa71f 100644
--- a/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/qemuxml2argv-mlock-on.xml
+++ b/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/qemuxml2argv-mlock-on.xml
@@ -3,9 +3,6 @@
   <uuid>c7a5fdbd-edaf-9455-926a-d65c16db1809</uuid>
   <memory unit='KiB'>219136</memory>
   <currentMemory unit='KiB'>219136</currentMemory>
-  <memtune>
-    <hard_limit unit='KiB'>256000</hard_limit>
-  </memtune>
   <memoryBacking>
     <locked/>
   </memoryBacking>