diff --git a/src/libxl/libxl_driver.c b/src/libxl/libxl_driver.c
index 50fbe5cfb4..99643e3640 100644
--- a/src/libxl/libxl_driver.c
+++ b/src/libxl/libxl_driver.c
@@ -690,6 +690,9 @@ libxlVmStart(libxlDriverPrivatePtr driver, virDomainObjPtr vm,
     }
 
     vm->def->id = domid;
+    if (libxlDomEventsRegister(vm) < 0)
+        goto error;
+
     if ((dom_xml = virDomainDefFormat(vm->def, 0)) == NULL)
         goto error;
 
@@ -700,9 +703,6 @@ libxlVmStart(libxlDriverPrivatePtr driver, virDomainObjPtr vm,
         goto error;
     }
 
-    if (libxlDomEventsRegister(vm) < 0)
-        goto error;
-
     if (libxlDomainSetVcpuAffinities(driver, vm) < 0)
         goto error;