diff --git a/src/conf/domain_conf.c b/src/conf/domain_conf.c
index b1685a2852..b59b43f33d 100644
--- a/src/conf/domain_conf.c
+++ b/src/conf/domain_conf.c
@@ -5832,7 +5832,7 @@ virDomainDefPostParse(virDomainDefPtr def,
 
     /* call the basic post parse callback */
     if (xmlopt->config.domainPostParseBasicCallback) {
-        ret = xmlopt->config.domainPostParseBasicCallback(def, caps,
+        ret = xmlopt->config.domainPostParseBasicCallback(def,
                                                           xmlopt->config.priv);
 
         if (virDomainDefPostParseCheckFailure(def, parseFlags, ret) < 0)
diff --git a/src/conf/domain_conf.h b/src/conf/domain_conf.h
index 09a3626464..bbce0a2059 100644
--- a/src/conf/domain_conf.h
+++ b/src/conf/domain_conf.h
@@ -2627,7 +2627,6 @@ typedef enum {
  * parseOpaque is used. This callback is run prior to
  * virDomainDefPostParseCallback. */
 typedef int (*virDomainDefPostParseBasicCallback)(virDomainDefPtr def,
-                                                  virCapsPtr caps,
                                                   void *opaque);
 
 /* Called once after everything else has been parsed, for adjusting
diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_capabilities.c b/src/qemu/qemu_capabilities.c
index 7a62dfb1a2..bfe59a1eff 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_capabilities.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_capabilities.c
@@ -799,6 +799,26 @@ virQEMUCapsFindBinaryForArch(virArch hostarch,
     return ret;
 }
 
+
+char *
+virQEMUCapsGetDefaultEmulator(virArch hostarch,
+                              virArch guestarch)
+{
+    char *binary = NULL;
+    /* Check for existence of base emulator, or alternate base
+     * which can be used with magic cpu choice
+     */
+    binary = virQEMUCapsFindBinaryForArch(hostarch, guestarch);
+
+    /* RHEL doesn't follow the usual naming for QEMU binaries and ships
+     * a single binary named qemu-kvm outside of $PATH instead */
+    if (virQEMUCapsGuestIsNative(hostarch, guestarch) && !binary)
+        binary = g_strdup("/usr/libexec/qemu-kvm");
+
+    return binary;
+}
+
+
 static int
 virQEMUCapsInitGuest(virCapsPtr caps,
                      virFileCachePtr cache,
@@ -809,15 +829,7 @@ virQEMUCapsInitGuest(virCapsPtr caps,
     virQEMUCapsPtr qemuCaps = NULL;
     int ret = -1;
 
-    /* Check for existence of base emulator, or alternate base
-     * which can be used with magic cpu choice
-     */
-    binary = virQEMUCapsFindBinaryForArch(hostarch, guestarch);
-
-    /* RHEL doesn't follow the usual naming for QEMU binaries and ships
-     * a single binary named qemu-kvm outside of $PATH instead */
-    if (virQEMUCapsGuestIsNative(hostarch, guestarch) && !binary)
-        binary = g_strdup("/usr/libexec/qemu-kvm");
+    binary = virQEMUCapsGetDefaultEmulator(hostarch, guestarch);
 
     /* Ignore binary if extracting version info fails */
     if (binary) {
diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_capabilities.h b/src/qemu/qemu_capabilities.h
index a8a5c38d73..9b380574f5 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_capabilities.h
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_capabilities.h
@@ -627,6 +627,8 @@ const char *virQEMUCapsGetMachineDefaultCPU(virQEMUCapsPtr qemuCaps,
 void virQEMUCapsFilterByMachineType(virQEMUCapsPtr qemuCaps,
                                     virDomainVirtType virtType,
                                     const char *machineType);
+char * virQEMUCapsGetDefaultEmulator(virArch hostarch,
+                                     virArch guestarch);
 
 virFileCachePtr virQEMUCapsCacheNew(const char *libDir,
                                     const char *cacheDir,
diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c b/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c
index 461fadc3d7..45c4ca3995 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c
@@ -4677,13 +4677,16 @@ qemuDomainDefTsegPostParse(virDomainDefPtr def,
 
 static int
 qemuDomainDefPostParseBasic(virDomainDefPtr def,
-                            virCapsPtr caps,
                             void *opaque G_GNUC_UNUSED)
 {
+    virQEMUDriverPtr driver = opaque;
+
     /* check for emulator and create a default one if needed */
-    if (!def->emulator &&
-        !(def->emulator = virDomainDefGetDefaultEmulator(def, caps)))
-        return 1;
+    if (!def->emulator) {
+        if (!(def->emulator = virQEMUCapsGetDefaultEmulator(
+                  driver->hostarch, def->os.arch)))
+            return 1;
+    }
 
     return 0;
 }
diff --git a/tests/testutilsqemu.c b/tests/testutilsqemu.c
index c24b3098a5..d702074679 100644
--- a/tests/testutilsqemu.c
+++ b/tests/testutilsqemu.c
@@ -93,6 +93,22 @@ static const char *const *kvm_machines[VIR_ARCH_LAST] = {
     [VIR_ARCH_S390X] = s390x_machines,
 };
 
+
+char *
+virFindFileInPath(const char *file)
+{
+    if (g_str_has_prefix(file, "qemu-system") ||
+        g_str_equal(file, "qemu-kvm")) {
+        return g_strdup_printf("/usr/bin/%s", file);
+    }
+
+    /* Nothing in tests should be relying on real files
+     * in host OS, so we return NULL to try to force
+     * an error in such a case
+     */
+    return NULL;
+}
+
 static int
 testQemuAddGuest(virCapsPtr caps,
                  virArch arch)