diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_hotplug.c b/src/qemu/qemu_hotplug.c
index 78adbb6a7c..7e6f4cf7ba 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_hotplug.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_hotplug.c
@@ -641,7 +641,6 @@ qemuDomainAttachDiskGeneric(virQEMUDriverPtr driver,
     qemuDomainObjPrivatePtr priv = vm->privateData;
     qemuHotplugDiskSourceDataPtr diskdata = NULL;
     char *devstr = NULL;
-    virQEMUDriverConfigPtr cfg = virQEMUDriverGetConfig(driver);
 
     if (qemuHotplugPrepareDiskAccess(driver, vm, disk, NULL, false) < 0)
         goto cleanup;
@@ -649,9 +648,6 @@ qemuDomainAttachDiskGeneric(virQEMUDriverPtr driver,
     if (qemuAssignDeviceDiskAlias(vm->def, disk) < 0)
         goto error;
 
-    if (qemuDomainPrepareDiskSource(disk, priv, cfg) < 0)
-        goto error;
-
     if (!(diskdata = qemuHotplugDiskSourceAttachPrepare(disk, priv->qemuCaps)))
         goto error;
 
@@ -686,7 +682,6 @@ qemuDomainAttachDiskGeneric(virQEMUDriverPtr driver,
     qemuHotplugDiskSourceDataFree(diskdata);
     qemuDomainSecretDiskDestroy(disk);
     VIR_FREE(devstr);
-    virObjectUnref(cfg);
     return ret;
 
  exit_monitor:
@@ -927,6 +922,8 @@ qemuDomainAttachDeviceDiskLive(virQEMUDriverPtr driver,
                                bool forceMediaChange)
 {
     size_t i;
+    virQEMUDriverConfigPtr cfg = virQEMUDriverGetConfig(driver);
+    qemuDomainObjPrivatePtr priv = vm->privateData;
     virDomainDiskDefPtr disk = dev->data.disk;
     virDomainDiskDefPtr orig_disk = NULL;
     int ret = -1;
@@ -943,6 +940,9 @@ qemuDomainAttachDeviceDiskLive(virQEMUDriverPtr driver,
     if (qemuDomainDetermineDiskChain(driver, vm, disk, true) < 0)
         goto cleanup;
 
+    if (qemuDomainPrepareDiskSource(disk, priv, cfg) < 0)
+        goto cleanup;
+
     switch ((virDomainDiskDevice) disk->device)  {
     case VIR_DOMAIN_DISK_DEVICE_CDROM:
     case VIR_DOMAIN_DISK_DEVICE_FLOPPY:
@@ -1013,6 +1013,7 @@ qemuDomainAttachDeviceDiskLive(virQEMUDriverPtr driver,
  cleanup:
     if (ret != 0)
         ignore_value(qemuRemoveSharedDevice(driver, dev, vm->def->name));
+    virObjectUnref(cfg);
     return ret;
 }