diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_driver.c b/src/qemu/qemu_driver.c
index 6d62519d72..b0324415dc 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_driver.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_driver.c
@@ -6949,7 +6949,7 @@ static int qemuDomainAttachDeviceFlags(virDomainPtr dom, const char *xml,
     virDomainDefPtr vmdef = NULL;
     virDomainDeviceDefPtr dev = NULL, dev_copy = NULL;
     int ret = -1;
-    unsigned int affect, parse_flags = 0;
+    unsigned int affect, parse_flags = VIR_DOMAIN_XML_INACTIVE;
     virQEMUCapsPtr qemuCaps = NULL;
     qemuDomainObjPrivatePtr priv;
     virQEMUDriverConfigPtr cfg = NULL;
@@ -6997,10 +6997,6 @@ static int qemuDomainAttachDeviceFlags(virDomainPtr dom, const char *xml,
          goto endjob;
     }
 
-    if ((flags & VIR_DOMAIN_AFFECT_CONFIG) &&
-        !(flags & VIR_DOMAIN_AFFECT_LIVE))
-        parse_flags |= VIR_DOMAIN_XML_INACTIVE;
-
     dev = dev_copy = virDomainDeviceDefParse(xml, vm->def,
                                              caps, driver->xmlopt,
                                              parse_flags);
diff --git a/tests/qemuhotplugtest.c b/tests/qemuhotplugtest.c
index eaf424d2f7..9d39968615 100644
--- a/tests/qemuhotplugtest.c
+++ b/tests/qemuhotplugtest.c
@@ -209,6 +209,7 @@ testQemuHotplug(const void *data)
     const char *const *tmp;
     bool fail = test->fail;
     bool keep = test->keep;
+    unsigned int device_parse_flags = 0;
     virDomainObjPtr vm = NULL;
     virDomainDeviceDefPtr dev = NULL;
     virCapsPtr caps = NULL;
@@ -244,8 +245,12 @@ testQemuHotplug(const void *data)
             goto cleanup;
     }
 
+    if (test->action == ATTACH)
+        device_parse_flags = VIR_DOMAIN_XML_INACTIVE;
+
     if (!(dev = virDomainDeviceDefParse(device_xml, vm->def,
-                                        caps, driver.xmlopt, 0)))
+                                        caps, driver.xmlopt,
+                                        device_parse_flags)))
         goto cleanup;
 
     /* Now is the best time to feed the spoofed monitor with predefined