diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_conf.c b/src/qemu/qemu_conf.c
index 0223a95d22..ad482d0ee9 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_conf.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_conf.c
@@ -321,12 +321,10 @@ virQEMUDriverConfigPtr virQEMUDriverConfigNew(bool privileged)
     if (!(cfg->namespaces = virBitmapNew(QEMU_DOMAIN_NS_LAST)))
         goto error;
 
-#if defined(__linux__)
     if (privileged &&
-        virProcessNamespaceAvailable(VIR_PROCESS_NAMESPACE_MNT) == 0 &&
+        qemuDomainNamespaceAvailable(QEMU_DOMAIN_NS_MOUNT) &&
         virBitmapSetBit(cfg->namespaces, QEMU_DOMAIN_NS_MOUNT) < 0)
         goto error;
-#endif /* defined(__linux__) */
 
 #ifdef DEFAULT_LOADER_NVRAM
     if (virFirmwareParseList(DEFAULT_LOADER_NVRAM,
@@ -438,7 +436,8 @@ virQEMUDriverConfigHugeTLBFSInit(virHugeTLBFSPtr hugetlbfs,
 
 
 int virQEMUDriverConfigLoadFile(virQEMUDriverConfigPtr cfg,
-                                const char *filename)
+                                const char *filename,
+                                bool privileged)
 {
     virConfPtr conf = NULL;
     int ret = -1;
@@ -832,6 +831,19 @@ int virQEMUDriverConfigLoadFile(virQEMUDriverConfigPtr cfg,
                 goto cleanup;
             }
 
+            if (!privileged) {
+                virReportError(VIR_ERR_CONFIG_UNSUPPORTED, "%s",
+                               _("cannot use namespaces in session mode"));
+                goto cleanup;
+            }
+
+            if (qemuDomainNamespaceAvailable(ns) < 0) {
+                virReportError(VIR_ERR_CONFIG_UNSUPPORTED,
+                               _("%s namespace is not available"),
+                               namespaces[i]);
+                goto cleanup;
+            }
+
             if (virBitmapSetBit(cfg->namespaces, ns) < 0) {
                 virReportError(VIR_ERR_INTERNAL_ERROR,
                                _("Unable to enable namespace: %s"),
diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_conf.h b/src/qemu/qemu_conf.h
index 91904ed4fd..e585f81afd 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_conf.h
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_conf.h
@@ -294,7 +294,8 @@ void qemuDomainCmdlineDefFree(qemuDomainCmdlineDefPtr def);
 virQEMUDriverConfigPtr virQEMUDriverConfigNew(bool privileged);
 
 int virQEMUDriverConfigLoadFile(virQEMUDriverConfigPtr cfg,
-                                const char *filename);
+                                const char *filename,
+                                bool privileged);
 
 virQEMUDriverConfigPtr virQEMUDriverGetConfig(virQEMUDriverPtr driver);
 bool virQEMUDriverIsPrivileged(virQEMUDriverPtr driver);
diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c b/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c
index 3adec5c140..be44843e59 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c
@@ -7643,21 +7643,8 @@ qemuDomainCreateNamespace(virQEMUDriverPtr driver,
     virQEMUDriverConfigPtr cfg = virQEMUDriverGetConfig(driver);
     int ret = -1;
 
-    if (!virBitmapIsBitSet(cfg->namespaces, QEMU_DOMAIN_NS_MOUNT)) {
-        ret = 0;
-        goto cleanup;
-    }
-
-    if (!virQEMUDriverIsPrivileged(driver)) {
-        virReportError(VIR_ERR_CONFIG_UNSUPPORTED, "%s",
-                       _("cannot use namespaces in session mode"));
-        goto cleanup;
-    }
-
-    if (virProcessNamespaceAvailable(VIR_PROCESS_NAMESPACE_MNT) < 0)
-        goto cleanup;
-
-    if (qemuDomainEnableNamespace(vm, QEMU_DOMAIN_NS_MOUNT) < 0)
+    if (virBitmapIsBitSet(cfg->namespaces, QEMU_DOMAIN_NS_MOUNT) &&
+        qemuDomainEnableNamespace(vm, QEMU_DOMAIN_NS_MOUNT) < 0)
         goto cleanup;
 
     ret = 0;
@@ -7667,6 +7654,35 @@ qemuDomainCreateNamespace(virQEMUDriverPtr driver,
 }
 
 
+bool
+qemuDomainNamespaceAvailable(qemuDomainNamespace ns ATTRIBUTE_UNUSED)
+{
+#if !defined(__linux__)
+    /* Namespaces are Linux specific. */
+    return false;
+
+#else /* defined(__linux__) */
+
+    switch (ns) {
+    case QEMU_DOMAIN_NS_MOUNT:
+# if !defined(HAVE_SYS_ACL_H) || !defined(WITH_SELINUX)
+        /* We can't create the exact copy of paths if either of
+         * these is not available. */
+        return false;
+# else
+        if (virProcessNamespaceAvailable(VIR_PROCESS_NAMESPACE_MNT) < 0)
+            return false;
+# endif
+        break;
+    case QEMU_DOMAIN_NS_LAST:
+        break;
+    }
+
+    return true;
+#endif /* defined(__linux__) */
+}
+
+
 struct qemuDomainAttachDeviceMknodData {
     virQEMUDriverPtr driver;
     virDomainObjPtr vm;
diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_domain.h b/src/qemu/qemu_domain.h
index 5cfa3e1147..524a6729c2 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_domain.h
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_domain.h
@@ -808,6 +808,8 @@ int qemuDomainBuildNamespace(virQEMUDriverPtr driver,
 int qemuDomainCreateNamespace(virQEMUDriverPtr driver,
                               virDomainObjPtr vm);
 
+bool qemuDomainNamespaceAvailable(qemuDomainNamespace ns);
+
 int qemuDomainNamespaceSetupDisk(virQEMUDriverPtr driver,
                                  virDomainObjPtr vm,
                                  virStorageSourcePtr src);
diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_driver.c b/src/qemu/qemu_driver.c
index 89bc833deb..afbcded93f 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_driver.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_driver.c
@@ -676,7 +676,7 @@ qemuStateInitialize(bool privileged,
     if (virAsprintf(&driverConf, "%s/qemu.conf", cfg->configBaseDir) < 0)
         goto error;
 
-    if (virQEMUDriverConfigLoadFile(cfg, driverConf) < 0)
+    if (virQEMUDriverConfigLoadFile(cfg, driverConf, privileged) < 0)
         goto error;
     VIR_FREE(driverConf);