diff --git a/AUTHORS b/AUTHORS
index 63661b11ae..dbc00c775f 100644
--- a/AUTHORS
+++ b/AUTHORS
@@ -175,6 +175,7 @@ Patches have also been contributed by:
   Heath Petersen       <HeathPetersen@Kandre.com>
   Neil Wilson          <neil@aldur.co.uk>
   Ohad Levy            <ohadlevy@gmail.com>
+  Michael Chapman      <mike@very.puzzling.org>
 
   [....send patches to get your name here....]
 
diff --git a/src/conf/domain_conf.c b/src/conf/domain_conf.c
index 65d4f8957f..be5267bf2c 100644
--- a/src/conf/domain_conf.c
+++ b/src/conf/domain_conf.c
@@ -9862,21 +9862,24 @@ static virDomainObjPtr virDomainLoadConfig(virCapsPtr caps,
                                       VIR_DOMAIN_XML_INACTIVE)))
         goto error;
 
-    /* if the domain is already in our hashtable, we don't need to do
-     * anything further
-     */
-    if ((dom = virDomainFindByUUID(doms, def->uuid))) {
-        VIR_FREE(configFile);
-        virDomainDefFree(def);
-        return dom;
-    }
-
     if ((autostartLink = virDomainConfigFile(autostartDir, name)) == NULL)
         goto error;
 
     if ((autostart = virFileLinkPointsTo(autostartLink, configFile)) < 0)
         goto error;
 
+    /* if the domain is already in our hashtable, we only need to
+     * update the autostart flag
+     */
+    if ((dom = virDomainFindByUUID(doms, def->uuid))) {
+        dom->autostart = autostart;
+
+        VIR_FREE(configFile);
+        VIR_FREE(autostartLink);
+        virDomainDefFree(def);
+        return dom;
+    }
+
     if (!(dom = virDomainAssignDef(caps, doms, def, false)))
         goto error;