diff --git a/docs/schemas/domaincommon.rng b/docs/schemas/domaincommon.rng
index 2442078969..9b669d9de5 100644
--- a/docs/schemas/domaincommon.rng
+++ b/docs/schemas/domaincommon.rng
@@ -1172,9 +1172,11 @@
 
   <define name="respartition">
     <element name="resource">
-      <element name="partition">
-        <ref name="absFilePath"/>
-      </element>
+      <optional>
+        <element name="partition">
+          <ref name="absFilePath"/>
+        </element>
+      </optional>
     </element>
   </define>
 
diff --git a/src/conf/domain_conf.c b/src/conf/domain_conf.c
index e9bdbbfd74..7dff6c8beb 100644
--- a/src/conf/domain_conf.c
+++ b/src/conf/domain_conf.c
@@ -17284,23 +17284,19 @@ virDomainResourceDefParse(xmlNodePtr node,
 {
     VIR_XPATH_NODE_AUTORESTORE(ctxt)
     virDomainResourceDef *def = NULL;
+    char *partition = NULL;
 
     ctxt->node = node;
 
-    def = g_new0(virDomainResourceDef, 1);
+    partition = virXPathString("string(./partition)", ctxt);
 
-    /* Find out what type of virtualization to use */
-    if (!(def->partition = virXPathString("string(./partition)", ctxt))) {
-        virReportError(VIR_ERR_INTERNAL_ERROR,
-                       "%s", _("missing resource partition attribute"));
-        goto error;
-    }
+    if (!partition)
+        return NULL;
+
+    def = g_new0(virDomainResourceDef, 1);
+    def->partition = partition;
 
     return def;
-
- error:
-    virDomainResourceDefFree(def);
-    return NULL;
 }