diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_firmware.c b/src/qemu/qemu_firmware.c
index 914f8596bd..5c247b1cf2 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_firmware.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_firmware.c
@@ -1054,13 +1054,14 @@ qemuFirmwareEnsureNVRAM(virDomainDef *def,
     if (loader->nvram && !loader->nvram->format)
         loader->nvram->format = loader->format;
 
-    /* If the source already exists and is fully specified, including
-     * the path, leave it alone */
-    if (loader->nvram && loader->nvram->path)
-        return;
+    if (loader->nvram) {
+        /* Nothing to do if a proper NVRAM backend is already configured */
+        if (!virStorageSourceIsEmpty(loader->nvram))
+            return;
 
-    if (loader->nvram)
+        /* otherwise we want to reset and re-populate the definition */
         virObjectUnref(loader->nvram);
+    }
 
     loader->nvram = virStorageSourceNew();
     loader->nvram->type = VIR_STORAGE_TYPE_FILE;
diff --git a/tests/qemuxmlconfdata/firmware-auto-efi-format-nvram-qcow2-network-nbd.x86_64-latest.args b/tests/qemuxmlconfdata/firmware-auto-efi-format-nvram-qcow2-network-nbd.x86_64-latest.args
index 77babdc147..f78b4e7abf 100644
--- a/tests/qemuxmlconfdata/firmware-auto-efi-format-nvram-qcow2-network-nbd.x86_64-latest.args
+++ b/tests/qemuxmlconfdata/firmware-auto-efi-format-nvram-qcow2-network-nbd.x86_64-latest.args
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ XDG_CONFIG_HOME=/var/lib/libvirt/qemu/domain--1-guest/.config \
 -object '{"qom-type":"secret","id":"masterKey0","format":"raw","file":"/var/lib/libvirt/qemu/domain--1-guest/master-key.aes"}' \
 -blockdev '{"driver":"file","filename":"/usr/share/edk2/ovmf/OVMF_CODE_4M.qcow2","node-name":"libvirt-pflash0-storage","auto-read-only":true,"discard":"unmap"}' \
 -blockdev '{"node-name":"libvirt-pflash0-format","read-only":true,"driver":"qcow2","file":"libvirt-pflash0-storage"}' \
--blockdev '{"driver":"nbd","server":{"type":"inet","host":"example.org","port":"6000"},"export":"bar","node-name":"libvirt-pflash1-storage","auto-read-only":true,"discard":"unmap"}' \
+-blockdev '{"driver":"nbd","server":{"type":"inet","host":"example.org","port":"6000"},"node-name":"libvirt-pflash1-storage","auto-read-only":true,"discard":"unmap"}' \
 -blockdev '{"node-name":"libvirt-pflash1-format","read-only":false,"driver":"qcow2","file":"libvirt-pflash1-storage"}' \
 -machine pc-i440fx-4.0,usb=off,dump-guest-core=off,memory-backend=pc.ram,pflash0=libvirt-pflash0-format,pflash1=libvirt-pflash1-format,acpi=on \
 -accel tcg \
diff --git a/tests/qemuxmlconfdata/firmware-auto-efi-format-nvram-qcow2-network-nbd.x86_64-latest.xml b/tests/qemuxmlconfdata/firmware-auto-efi-format-nvram-qcow2-network-nbd.x86_64-latest.xml
index 35865b23c5..cc87905306 100644
--- a/tests/qemuxmlconfdata/firmware-auto-efi-format-nvram-qcow2-network-nbd.x86_64-latest.xml
+++ b/tests/qemuxmlconfdata/firmware-auto-efi-format-nvram-qcow2-network-nbd.x86_64-latest.xml
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@
     </firmware>
     <loader readonly='yes' type='pflash' format='qcow2'>/usr/share/edk2/ovmf/OVMF_CODE_4M.qcow2</loader>
     <nvram type='network' format='qcow2'>
-      <source protocol='nbd' name='bar'>
+      <source protocol='nbd'>
         <host name='example.org' port='6000'/>
       </source>
     </nvram>
diff --git a/tests/qemuxmlconfdata/firmware-auto-efi-format-nvram-qcow2-network-nbd.xml b/tests/qemuxmlconfdata/firmware-auto-efi-format-nvram-qcow2-network-nbd.xml
index 0028bde4d7..d604840edd 100644
--- a/tests/qemuxmlconfdata/firmware-auto-efi-format-nvram-qcow2-network-nbd.xml
+++ b/tests/qemuxmlconfdata/firmware-auto-efi-format-nvram-qcow2-network-nbd.xml
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
   <os firmware='efi'>
     <type arch='x86_64' machine='pc-i440fx-4.0'>hvm</type>
     <nvram type='network' format='qcow2'>
-      <source protocol='nbd' name='bar'>
+      <source protocol='nbd'>
         <host name='example.org' port='6000'/>
       </source>
     </nvram>