diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c b/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c
index 6d7827220e..a36e157529 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c
@@ -10227,7 +10227,7 @@ qemuDomainFixupCPUs(virDomainObjPtr vm,
     virCPUDefPtr fixedCPU = NULL;
     virCPUDefPtr fixedOrig = NULL;
     virArch arch = vm->def->os.arch;
-    int ret = 0;
+    int ret = -1;
 
     if (!ARCH_IS_X86(arch))
         return 0;