diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_hotplug.c b/src/qemu/qemu_hotplug.c
index 7a6946e57b..c9748d961e 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_hotplug.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_hotplug.c
@@ -1362,7 +1362,7 @@ qemuDomainAttachHostScsiDevice(virQEMUDriverPtr driver,
         return -1;
     }
 
-    if (qemuAssignDeviceHostdevAlias(vm->def, hostdev, 0) < 0)
+    if (qemuAssignDeviceHostdevAlias(vm->def, hostdev, -1) < 0)
         goto cleanup;
 
     if (!(drvstr = qemuBuildSCSIHostdevDrvStr(hostdev, priv->qemuCaps,