diff --git a/src/libxl/libxl_conf.c b/src/libxl/libxl_conf.c
index 6320421fe9..d7fb533902 100644
--- a/src/libxl/libxl_conf.c
+++ b/src/libxl/libxl_conf.c
@@ -183,6 +183,9 @@ libxlCapsInitHost(libxl_ctx *ctx, virCapsPtr caps)
         virCapabilitiesAddHostFeature(caps, "pae") < 0)
         return -1;
 
+    if (virCapabilitiesSetNetPrefix(caps, LIBXL_GENERATED_PREFIX_XEN) < 0)
+        return -1;
+
     return 0;
 }
 
diff --git a/src/libxl/libxl_conf.h b/src/libxl/libxl_conf.h
index 7c68b2bced..6ad9ad34c7 100644
--- a/src/libxl/libxl_conf.h
+++ b/src/libxl/libxl_conf.h
@@ -47,6 +47,10 @@
 # define LIBXL_MIGRATION_PORT_MIN  49152
 # define LIBXL_MIGRATION_PORT_MAX  49216
 
+/* Used for prefix of ifname of any network name generated dynamically
+ * by libvirt for Xen, and cannot be used for a persistent network name.  */
+# define LIBXL_GENERATED_PREFIX_XEN "vif"
+
 # define LIBXL_CONFIG_BASE_DIR SYSCONFDIR "/libvirt"
 # define LIBXL_CONFIG_DIR SYSCONFDIR "/libvirt/libxl"
 # define LIBXL_AUTOSTART_DIR LIBXL_CONFIG_DIR "/autostart"