diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_capabilities.c b/src/qemu/qemu_capabilities.c
index 3da3a0cad5..29714855b0 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_capabilities.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_capabilities.c
@@ -2436,6 +2436,14 @@ bool virQEMUCapsHasPCIMultiBus(virQEMUCapsPtr qemuCaps,
          *     ppce500: 1.6.0
          */
 
+        /* We do not store the qemu version in domain status XML.
+         * Hope the user is using a QEMU new enough to use 'pci.0',
+         * otherwise the results of this function will be wrong
+         * for domains already running at the time of daemon
+         * restart */
+        if (qemuCaps->version == 0)
+            return true;
+
         if (qemuCaps->version >= 2000000)
             return true;
 
@@ -2487,14 +2495,6 @@ virArch virQEMUCapsGetArch(virQEMUCapsPtr qemuCaps)
 }
 
 
-void
-virQEMUCapsSetVersion(virQEMUCapsPtr qemuCaps,
-                      unsigned int version)
-{
-    qemuCaps->version = version;
-}
-
-
 unsigned int virQEMUCapsGetVersion(virQEMUCapsPtr qemuCaps)
 {
     return qemuCaps->version;
diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_capspriv.h b/src/qemu/qemu_capspriv.h
index f23995ec6e..219daa3629 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_capspriv.h
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_capspriv.h
@@ -55,10 +55,6 @@ void
 virQEMUCapsSetArch(virQEMUCapsPtr qemuCaps,
                    virArch arch);
 
-void
-virQEMUCapsSetVersion(virQEMUCapsPtr qemuCaps,
-                      unsigned int version);
-
 void
 virQEMUCapsInitHostCPUModel(virQEMUCapsPtr qemuCaps,
                             virArch hostArch,
diff --git a/tests/qemuxml2argvtest.c b/tests/qemuxml2argvtest.c
index d3ac569e27..385a54615f 100644
--- a/tests/qemuxml2argvtest.c
+++ b/tests/qemuxml2argvtest.c
@@ -384,11 +384,6 @@ testUpdateQEMUCaps(const struct testInfo *info,
 
     virQEMUCapsInitQMPBasicArch(info->qemuCaps);
 
-    /* We need to pretend QEMU 2.0.0 is in use so that pSeries guests
-     * will get the correct alias assigned to their buses.
-     * See virQEMUCapsHasPCIMultiBus() */
-    virQEMUCapsSetVersion(info->qemuCaps, 2000000);
-
     if (testAddCPUModels(info->qemuCaps, info->skipLegacyCPUs) < 0)
         goto cleanup;