diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_command.c b/src/qemu/qemu_command.c
index 87e762bb51..c12e657859 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_command.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_command.c
@@ -6509,23 +6509,17 @@ qemuBuildPMCommandLine(virCommandPtr cmd,
                        const virDomainDef *def,
                        qemuDomainObjPrivatePtr priv)
 {
-    bool allowReboot = true;
     virQEMUCapsPtr qemuCaps = priv->qemuCaps;
 
     /* Only add -no-reboot option if each event destroys domain */
-    if (def->onReboot == VIR_DOMAIN_LIFECYCLE_ACTION_DESTROY &&
-        def->onPoweroff == VIR_DOMAIN_LIFECYCLE_ACTION_DESTROY &&
-        (def->onCrash == VIR_DOMAIN_LIFECYCLE_ACTION_DESTROY ||
-         def->onCrash == VIR_DOMAIN_LIFECYCLE_ACTION_COREDUMP_DESTROY)) {
-        allowReboot = false;
+    if (priv->allowReboot == VIR_TRISTATE_BOOL_NO)
         virCommandAddArg(cmd, "-no-reboot");
-    }
 
     /* If JSON monitor is enabled, we can receive an event
      * when QEMU stops. If we use no-shutdown, then we can
      * watch for this event and do a soft/warm reboot.
      */
-    if (priv->monJSON && allowReboot &&
+    if (priv->monJSON && priv->allowReboot == VIR_TRISTATE_BOOL_YES &&
         virQEMUCapsGet(qemuCaps, QEMU_CAPS_NO_SHUTDOWN)) {
         virCommandAddArg(cmd, "-no-shutdown");
     }
diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c b/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c
index 05e8b96aa4..26f65e2d9b 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c
@@ -1767,6 +1767,7 @@ qemuDomainObjPrivateDataClear(qemuDomainObjPrivatePtr priv)
     priv->namespaces = NULL;
 
     priv->reconnectBlockjobs = VIR_TRISTATE_BOOL_ABSENT;
+    priv->allowReboot = VIR_TRISTATE_BOOL_ABSENT;
 }
 
 
@@ -1876,6 +1877,16 @@ qemuDomainObjPrivateXMLFormatBlockjobs(virBufferPtr buf,
 }
 
 
+static void
+qemuDomainObjPrivateXMLFormatAllowReboot(virBufferPtr buf,
+                                         virTristateBool allowReboot)
+{
+    virBufferAsprintf(buf, "<allowReboot value='%s'/>\n",
+                      virTristateBoolTypeToString(allowReboot));
+
+}
+
+
 static int
 qemuDomainObjPrivateXMLFormat(virBufferPtr buf,
                               virDomainObjPtr vm)
@@ -1998,6 +2009,8 @@ qemuDomainObjPrivateXMLFormat(virBufferPtr buf,
     if (priv->chardevStdioLogd)
         virBufferAddLit(buf, "<chardevStdioLogd/>\n");
 
+    qemuDomainObjPrivateXMLFormatAllowReboot(buf, priv->allowReboot);
+
     if (qemuDomainObjPrivateXMLFormatBlockjobs(buf, vm) < 0)
         return -1;
 
@@ -2108,6 +2121,31 @@ qemuDomainObjPrivateXMLParseBlockjobs(qemuDomainObjPrivatePtr priv,
 }
 
 
+static int
+qemuDomainObjPrivateXMLParseAllowReboot(xmlXPathContextPtr ctxt,
+                                        virTristateBool *allowReboot)
+{
+    int ret = -1;
+    int val;
+    char *valStr;
+
+    if ((valStr = virXPathString("string(./allowReboot/@value)", ctxt))) {
+        if ((val = virTristateBoolTypeFromString(valStr)) < 0) {
+            virReportError(VIR_ERR_INTERNAL_ERROR,
+                           _("invalid allowReboot value '%s'"), valStr);
+            goto cleanup;
+        }
+        *allowReboot = val;
+    }
+
+    ret = 0;
+
+ cleanup:
+    VIR_FREE(valStr);
+    return ret;
+}
+
+
 static int
 qemuDomainObjPrivateXMLParse(xmlXPathContextPtr ctxt,
                              virDomainObjPtr vm,
@@ -2323,6 +2361,8 @@ qemuDomainObjPrivateXMLParse(xmlXPathContextPtr ctxt,
     priv->chardevStdioLogd = virXPathBoolean("boolean(./chardevStdioLogd)",
                                              ctxt) == 1;
 
+    qemuDomainObjPrivateXMLParseAllowReboot(ctxt, &priv->allowReboot);
+
     if (qemuDomainObjPrivateXMLParseBlockjobs(priv, ctxt) < 0)
         goto error;
 
diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_domain.h b/src/qemu/qemu_domain.h
index a29dd76037..afe979d2ed 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_domain.h
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_domain.h
@@ -261,6 +261,7 @@ struct _qemuDomainObjPrivate {
     char *lockState;
 
     bool fakeReboot;
+    virTristateBool allowReboot;
 
     int jobs_queued;
 
diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_process.c b/src/qemu/qemu_process.c
index 7f833e940b..66e81bbe51 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_process.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_process.c
@@ -5309,6 +5309,26 @@ qemuProcessPrepareDomainStorage(virConnectPtr conn,
 }
 
 
+static void
+qemuProcessPrepareAllowReboot(virDomainObjPtr vm)
+{
+    virDomainDefPtr def = vm->def;
+    qemuDomainObjPrivatePtr priv = vm->privateData;
+
+    if (priv->allowReboot != VIR_TRISTATE_BOOL_ABSENT)
+        return;
+
+    if (def->onReboot == VIR_DOMAIN_LIFECYCLE_ACTION_DESTROY &&
+        def->onPoweroff == VIR_DOMAIN_LIFECYCLE_ACTION_DESTROY &&
+        (def->onCrash == VIR_DOMAIN_LIFECYCLE_ACTION_DESTROY ||
+         def->onCrash == VIR_DOMAIN_LIFECYCLE_ACTION_COREDUMP_DESTROY)) {
+        priv->allowReboot = VIR_TRISTATE_BOOL_NO;
+    } else {
+        priv->allowReboot = VIR_TRISTATE_BOOL_YES;
+    }
+}
+
+
 /**
  * qemuProcessPrepareDomain:
  * @conn: connection object (for looking up storage volumes)
@@ -5365,6 +5385,8 @@ qemuProcessPrepareDomain(virConnectPtr conn,
         priv->chardevStdioLogd = true;
     }
 
+    qemuProcessPrepareAllowReboot(vm);
+
     /*
      * Normally PCI addresses are assigned in the virDomainCreate
      * or virDomainDefine methods. We might still need to assign
@@ -6618,6 +6640,10 @@ int qemuProcessAttach(virConnectPtr conn ATTRIBUTE_UNUSED,
 
     priv->gotShutdown = false;
 
+    /* Attaching to running QEMU so we need to detect whether it was started
+     * with -no-reboot. */
+    qemuProcessPrepareAllowReboot(vm);
+
     /*
      * Normally PCI addresses are assigned in the virDomainCreate
      * or virDomainDefine methods. We might still need to assign
@@ -6994,6 +7020,10 @@ qemuProcessReconnect(void *opaque)
     if (qemuDomainMasterKeyReadFile(priv) < 0)
         goto error;
 
+    /* If we are connecting to a guest started by old libvirt there is no
+     * allowReboot in status XML and we need to initialize it. */
+    qemuProcessPrepareAllowReboot(obj);
+
     VIR_DEBUG("Reconnect monitor to %p '%s'", obj, obj->def->name);
 
     /* XXX check PID liveliness & EXE path */
diff --git a/tests/qemuxml2xmltest.c b/tests/qemuxml2xmltest.c
index 14f5b58fe9..2185532a6c 100644
--- a/tests/qemuxml2xmltest.c
+++ b/tests/qemuxml2xmltest.c
@@ -109,7 +109,8 @@ static const char testStatusXMLPrefixBodyStatic[] =
 "</devices>\n"
 "<numad nodeset='0-2' cpuset='1,3'/>\n"
 "<libDir path='/tmp'/>\n"
-"<channelTargetDir path='/tmp/channel'/>\n";
+"<channelTargetDir path='/tmp/channel'/>\n"
+"<allowReboot value='yes'/>\n";
 
 static const char testStatusXMLSuffix[] =
 "</domstatus>\n";