diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_capabilities.c b/src/qemu/qemu_capabilities.c
index d92947f7da..d6affb9721 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_capabilities.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_capabilities.c
@@ -2345,8 +2345,10 @@ qemuCapsInitQMP(qemuCapsPtr caps,
         goto cleanup;
     }
 
-    if (!(mon = qemuMonitorOpen(NULL, &config, true, &callbacks)))
+    if (!(mon = qemuMonitorOpen(NULL, &config, true, &callbacks))) {
+        ret = 0;
         goto cleanup;
+    }
 
     qemuMonitorLock(mon);