diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_command.c b/src/qemu/qemu_command.c
index ae0361840a..84cbfe1b4d 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_command.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_command.c
@@ -1742,7 +1742,7 @@ qemuCollectPCIAddress(virDomainDefPtr def ATTRIBUTE_UNUSED,
 }
 
 static bool
-qemuDomainSupportsPCI(virDomainDefPtr def)
+qemuDomainSupportsPCI(virDomainDefPtr def, virQEMUCapsPtr qemuCaps)
 {
     if ((def->os.arch != VIR_ARCH_ARMV7L) && (def->os.arch != VIR_ARCH_AARCH64))
         return true;
@@ -1750,6 +1750,11 @@ qemuDomainSupportsPCI(virDomainDefPtr def)
     if (STREQ(def->os.machine, "versatilepb"))
         return true;
 
+    if ((STREQ(def->os.machine, "virt") ||
+         STRPREFIX(def->os.machine, "virt-")) &&
+        virQEMUCapsGet(qemuCaps, QEMU_CAPS_OBJECT_GPEX))
+        return true;
+
     return false;
 }
 
@@ -2267,7 +2272,7 @@ qemuDomainAssignPCIAddresses(virDomainDefPtr def,
         if (!(addrs = qemuDomainPCIAddressSetCreate(def, nbuses, false)))
             goto cleanup;
 
-        if (qemuDomainSupportsPCI(def)) {
+        if (qemuDomainSupportsPCI(def, qemuCaps)) {
             if (qemuValidateDevicePCISlotsChipsets(def, qemuCaps, addrs) < 0)
                 goto cleanup;
 
diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c b/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c
index ad9a8ac1aa..abf52c9c38 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c
@@ -1093,6 +1093,9 @@ qemuDomainDefPostParse(virDomainDefPtr def,
             def, VIR_DOMAIN_CONTROLLER_TYPE_SATA, 0, -1) < 0)
         goto cleanup;
 
+    /* NB: any machine that sets addPCIRoot to true must also return
+     * true from the function qemuDomainSupportsPCI().
+     */
     if (addPCIRoot &&
         virDomainDefMaybeAddController(
             def, VIR_DOMAIN_CONTROLLER_TYPE_PCI, 0,
@@ -1102,6 +1105,9 @@ qemuDomainDefPostParse(virDomainDefPtr def,
     /* When a machine has a pcie-root, make sure that there is always
      * a dmi-to-pci-bridge controller added as bus 1, and a pci-bridge
      * as bus 2, so that standard PCI devices can be connected
+     *
+     * NB: any machine that sets addPCIeRoot to true must also return
+     * true from the function qemuDomainSupportsPCI().
      */
     if (addPCIeRoot) {
         if (virDomainDefMaybeAddController(