diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_capabilities.c b/src/qemu/qemu_capabilities.c
index 93c3ec18b6..f8ea66b577 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_capabilities.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_capabilities.c
@@ -4540,7 +4540,7 @@ virQEMUCapsNewData(const char *binary,
                                            priv->libDir,
                                            priv->runUid,
                                            priv->runGid,
-                                           priv->microcodeVersion,
+                                           virHostCPUGetMicrocodeVersion(),
                                            priv->kernelVersion);
 }
 
@@ -4623,8 +4623,7 @@ virFileCachePtr
 virQEMUCapsCacheNew(const char *libDir,
                     const char *cacheDir,
                     uid_t runUid,
-                    gid_t runGid,
-                    unsigned int microcodeVersion)
+                    gid_t runGid)
 {
     char *capsCacheDir = NULL;
     virFileCachePtr cache = NULL;
@@ -4648,7 +4647,6 @@ virQEMUCapsCacheNew(const char *libDir,
 
     priv->runUid = runUid;
     priv->runGid = runGid;
-    priv->microcodeVersion = microcodeVersion;
     priv->kvmUsable = VIR_TRISTATE_BOOL_ABSENT;
 
     if (uname(&uts) == 0 &&
@@ -4670,8 +4668,11 @@ virQEMUCapsPtr
 virQEMUCapsCacheLookup(virFileCachePtr cache,
                        const char *binary)
 {
+    virQEMUCapsCachePrivPtr priv = virFileCacheGetPriv(cache);
     virQEMUCapsPtr ret = NULL;
 
+    priv->microcodeVersion = virHostCPUGetMicrocodeVersion();
+
     ret = virFileCacheLookup(cache, binary);
 
     VIR_DEBUG("Returning caps %p for %s", ret, binary);
@@ -4725,6 +4726,7 @@ virQEMUCapsPtr
 virQEMUCapsCacheLookupByArch(virFileCachePtr cache,
                              virArch arch)
 {
+    virQEMUCapsCachePrivPtr priv = virFileCacheGetPriv(cache);
     virQEMUCapsPtr ret = NULL;
     const char *binaryFilters[] = {
         "qemu-system-",
@@ -4737,6 +4739,8 @@ virQEMUCapsCacheLookupByArch(virFileCachePtr cache,
     size_t i;
     size_t j;
 
+    priv->microcodeVersion = virHostCPUGetMicrocodeVersion();
+
     for (i = 0; i < ARRAY_CARDINALITY(binaryFilters); i++) {
         for (j = 0; j < ARRAY_CARDINALITY(archs); j++) {
             struct virQEMUCapsSearchData data = {
diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_capabilities.h b/src/qemu/qemu_capabilities.h
index 2fbd9c1e58..23ecef8c63 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_capabilities.h
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_capabilities.h
@@ -588,8 +588,7 @@ void virQEMUCapsFilterByMachineType(virQEMUCapsPtr qemuCaps,
 virFileCachePtr virQEMUCapsCacheNew(const char *libDir,
                                     const char *cacheDir,
                                     uid_t uid,
-                                    gid_t gid,
-                                    unsigned int microcodeVersion);
+                                    gid_t gid);
 virQEMUCapsPtr virQEMUCapsCacheLookup(virFileCachePtr cache,
                                       const char *binary);
 virQEMUCapsPtr virQEMUCapsCacheLookupCopy(virFileCachePtr cache,
diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_driver.c b/src/qemu/qemu_driver.c
index 7e334d0d8d..4510b0ce60 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_driver.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_driver.c
@@ -584,8 +584,6 @@ qemuStateInitialize(bool privileged,
     char *hugepagePath = NULL;
     char *memoryBackingPath = NULL;
     size_t i;
-    virCPUDefPtr hostCPU = NULL;
-    unsigned int microcodeVersion = 0;
 
     if (VIR_ALLOC(qemu_driver) < 0)
         return -1;
@@ -808,15 +806,10 @@ qemuStateInitialize(bool privileged,
         run_gid = cfg->group;
     }
 
-    if ((hostCPU = virCPUProbeHost(virArchFromHost())))
-        microcodeVersion = hostCPU->microcodeVersion;
-    virCPUDefFree(hostCPU);
-
     qemu_driver->qemuCapsCache = virQEMUCapsCacheNew(cfg->libDir,
                                                      cfg->cacheDir,
                                                      run_uid,
-                                                     run_gid,
-                                                     microcodeVersion);
+                                                     run_gid);
     if (!qemu_driver->qemuCapsCache)
         goto error;
 
diff --git a/tests/testutilsqemu.c b/tests/testutilsqemu.c
index 3ee8a0c6c6..763f511bcf 100644
--- a/tests/testutilsqemu.c
+++ b/tests/testutilsqemu.c
@@ -740,7 +740,7 @@ int qemuTestDriverInit(virQEMUDriver *driver)
 
     /* Using /dev/null for libDir and cacheDir automatically produces errors
      * upon attempt to use any of them */
-    driver->qemuCapsCache = virQEMUCapsCacheNew("/dev/null", "/dev/null", 0, 0, 0);
+    driver->qemuCapsCache = virQEMUCapsCacheNew("/dev/null", "/dev/null", 0, 0);
     if (!driver->qemuCapsCache)
         goto error;