diff --git a/src/conf/schemas/domaincommon.rng b/src/conf/schemas/domaincommon.rng
index ce4509f245..5ff15e8787 100644
--- a/src/conf/schemas/domaincommon.rng
+++ b/src/conf/schemas/domaincommon.rng
@@ -37,6 +37,13 @@
     </element>
   </define>
 
+  <!-- this element is used as a child of a snapshot definition -->
+  <define name="inactiveDomain">
+    <element name="inactiveDomain">
+      <ref name="domaincontents"/>
+    </element>
+  </define>
+
   <define name="domaincontents">
     <ref name="hvs"/>
     <interleave>
diff --git a/src/conf/schemas/domainsnapshot.rng b/src/conf/schemas/domainsnapshot.rng
index a5d1a40493..3db9f458ba 100644
--- a/src/conf/schemas/domainsnapshot.rng
+++ b/src/conf/schemas/domainsnapshot.rng
@@ -83,6 +83,11 @@
             </grammar>
           </choice>
         </optional>
+        <optional>
+          <grammar>
+            <include href="inactiveDomain.rng"/>
+          </grammar>
+        </optional>
         <optional>
           <element name="parent">
             <element name="name">
diff --git a/src/conf/schemas/inactiveDomain.rng b/src/conf/schemas/inactiveDomain.rng
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..ae1207d978
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/conf/schemas/inactiveDomain.rng
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+<?xml version="1.0"?>
+<grammar xmlns="http://relaxng.org/ns/structure/1.0" datatypeLibrary="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-datatypes">
+  <!-- inactiveDomain element grammar is included into domainsnapshot.rng -->
+  <start>
+    <ref name="inactiveDomain"/>
+  </start>
+
+  <include href="domainoverrides.rng"/>
+
+</grammar>
diff --git a/src/conf/schemas/meson.build b/src/conf/schemas/meson.build
index 1bb09b4c5d..9ec4c010d6 100644
--- a/src/conf/schemas/meson.build
+++ b/src/conf/schemas/meson.build
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ schema_files = [
   'domain.rng',
   'domainoverrides.rng',
   'domainsnapshot.rng',
+  'inactiveDomain.rng',
   'interface.rng',
   'networkcommon.rng',
   'networkport.rng',