diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c b/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c
index a5fe468f67..ee66418473 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c
@@ -4765,8 +4765,6 @@ char *qemuDomainFormatXML(virQEMUDriverPtr driver,
     } else {
         def = vm->def;
         origCPU = priv->origCPU;
-        if (virDomainObjIsActive(vm))
-            flags &= ~VIR_DOMAIN_XML_UPDATE_CPU;
     }
 
     return qemuDomainDefFormatXMLInternal(driver, def, origCPU, flags);
diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_domain.h b/src/qemu/qemu_domain.h
index b291dc3082..09201b1a40 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_domain.h
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_domain.h
@@ -40,8 +40,7 @@
 # include "logging/log_manager.h"
 
 # define QEMU_DOMAIN_FORMAT_LIVE_FLAGS      \
-    (VIR_DOMAIN_XML_SECURE |                \
-     VIR_DOMAIN_XML_UPDATE_CPU)
+    (VIR_DOMAIN_XML_SECURE)
 
 # if ULONG_MAX == 4294967295
 /* QEMU has a 64-bit limit, but we are limited by our historical choice of
diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_driver.c b/src/qemu/qemu_driver.c
index da98770dc1..1b271792db 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_driver.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_driver.c
@@ -6997,6 +6997,13 @@ static char
     if ((flags & VIR_DOMAIN_XML_MIGRATABLE))
         flags |= QEMU_DOMAIN_FORMAT_LIVE_FLAGS;
 
+    /* The CPU is already updated in the domain's live definition, we need to
+     * ignore the VIR_DOMAIN_XML_UPDATE_CPU flag.
+     */
+    if (virDomainObjIsActive(vm) &&
+        !(flags & VIR_DOMAIN_DEF_FORMAT_INACTIVE))
+        flags &= ~VIR_DOMAIN_XML_UPDATE_CPU;
+
     ret = qemuDomainFormatXML(driver, vm, flags);
 
  cleanup: