diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_driver.c b/src/qemu/qemu_driver.c
index f833655b8a..84ef4dd078 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_driver.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_driver.c
@@ -9027,7 +9027,6 @@ qemuDomainSnapshotCreateSingleDiskActive(struct qemud_driver *driver,
             VIR_WARN("Unable to release lock on %s", source);
         goto cleanup;
     }
-    need_unlink = false;
 
     disk->src = origsrc;
     origsrc = NULL;
@@ -9041,6 +9040,7 @@ qemuDomainSnapshotCreateSingleDiskActive(struct qemud_driver *driver,
         goto cleanup;
 
     /* Update vm in place to match changes.  */
+    need_unlink = false;
     VIR_FREE(disk->src);
     disk->src = source;
     source = NULL;
diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_monitor_text.c b/src/qemu/qemu_monitor_text.c
index 2f31d990e9..4774df9986 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_monitor_text.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_monitor_text.c
@@ -3064,7 +3064,8 @@ qemuMonitorTextDiskSnapshot(qemuMonitorPtr mon, const char *device,
         goto cleanup;
     }
 
-    if (strstr(reply, "error while creating qcow2") != NULL) {
+    if (strstr(reply, "error while creating qcow2") != NULL ||
+        strstr(reply, "unknown command:") != NULL) {
         qemuReportError(VIR_ERR_OPERATION_FAILED,
                         _("Failed to take snapshot: %s"), reply);
         goto cleanup;