diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_command.c b/src/qemu/qemu_command.c
index 2209cf68eb..9b06a4924e 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_command.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_command.c
@@ -6427,7 +6427,9 @@ qemuBuildVirtioSerialPortDevStr(virDomainDefPtr def,
           virQEMUCapsGet(qemuCaps, QEMU_CAPS_DEVICE_SPICEVMC))) {
         virBufferAsprintf(&buf, ",chardev=char%s,id=%s",
                           dev->info.alias, dev->info.alias);
-        if (dev->deviceType == VIR_DOMAIN_CHR_DEVICE_TYPE_CHANNEL) {
+        if (dev->deviceType == VIR_DOMAIN_CHR_DEVICE_TYPE_CHANNEL &&
+            (dev->source.type == VIR_DOMAIN_CHR_TYPE_SPICEVMC ||
+             dev->target.name)) {
             virBufferAsprintf(&buf, ",name=%s", dev->target.name
                               ? dev->target.name : "com.redhat.spice.0");
         }
diff --git a/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/qemuxml2argv-channel-virtio-default.args b/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/qemuxml2argv-channel-virtio-default.args
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..7908445f03
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/qemuxml2argv-channel-virtio-default.args
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+LC_ALL=C PATH=/bin HOME=/home/test USER=test LOGNAME=test QEMU_AUDIO_DRV=none \
+/usr/bin/qemu -S -M pc -m 214 -smp 1 -nographic -nodefconfig -nodefaults \
+-chardev socket,id=charmonitor,path=/tmp/test-monitor,server,nowait \
+-mon chardev=charmonitor,id=monitor,mode=readline \
+-no-acpi \
+-boot c \
+-device virtio-serial-pci,id=virtio-serial1,bus=pci.0,addr=0xa \
+-device virtio-serial-pci,id=virtio-serial0,bus=pci.0,addr=0x3 \
+-usb \
+-hda /dev/HostVG/QEMUGuest1 \
+-chardev pty,id=charchannel0 \
+-device virtserialport,bus=virtio-serial0.0,nr=1,chardev=charchannel0,id=channel0 \
+-chardev spicevmc,id=charchannel1,name=vdagent \
+-device virtserialport,bus=virtio-serial0.0,nr=2,chardev=charchannel1,id=channel1,\
+name=com.redhat.spice.0 \
+-device virtio-balloon-pci,id=balloon0,bus=pci.0,addr=0x4
diff --git a/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/qemuxml2argv-channel-virtio-default.xml b/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/qemuxml2argv-channel-virtio-default.xml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..74badedc81
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/qemuxml2argv-channel-virtio-default.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+<domain type='qemu'>
+  <name>QEMUGuest1</name>
+  <uuid>c7a5fdbd-edaf-9455-926a-d65c16db1809</uuid>
+  <memory unit='KiB'>219100</memory>
+  <currentMemory unit='KiB'>219100</currentMemory>
+  <vcpu placement='static' cpuset='1-4,8-20,525'>1</vcpu>
+  <os>
+    <type arch='i686' machine='pc'>hvm</type>
+    <boot dev='hd'/>
+  </os>
+  <clock offset='utc'/>
+  <on_poweroff>destroy</on_poweroff>
+  <on_reboot>restart</on_reboot>
+  <on_crash>destroy</on_crash>
+  <devices>
+    <emulator>/usr/bin/qemu</emulator>
+    <disk type='block' device='disk'>
+      <source dev='/dev/HostVG/QEMUGuest1'/>
+      <target dev='hda' bus='ide'/>
+      <address type='drive' controller='0' bus='0' target='0' unit='0'/>
+    </disk>
+    <controller type='usb' index='0'/>
+    <controller type='ide' index='0'/>
+    <controller type='virtio-serial' index='1'>
+      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x0a' function='0x0'/>
+    </controller>
+    <controller type='pci' index='0' model='pci-root'/>
+    <channel type='pty'>
+      <target type='virtio'/>
+    </channel>
+    <channel type="spicevmc">
+      <target type="virtio"/>
+    </channel>
+    <memballoon model='virtio'/>
+  </devices>
+</domain>
diff --git a/tests/qemuxml2argvtest.c b/tests/qemuxml2argvtest.c
index a212d30e32..4154601d82 100644
--- a/tests/qemuxml2argvtest.c
+++ b/tests/qemuxml2argvtest.c
@@ -1110,6 +1110,9 @@ mymain(void)
     DO_TEST("channel-spicevmc-old",
             QEMU_CAPS_DEVICE, QEMU_CAPS_NODEFCONFIG,
             QEMU_CAPS_SPICE, QEMU_CAPS_DEVICE_SPICEVMC);
+    DO_TEST("channel-virtio-default",
+            QEMU_CAPS_DEVICE, QEMU_CAPS_CHARDEV, QEMU_CAPS_NODEFCONFIG,
+            QEMU_CAPS_SPICE, QEMU_CAPS_CHARDEV_SPICEVMC);
 
     DO_TEST("smartcard-host",
             QEMU_CAPS_CHARDEV, QEMU_CAPS_DEVICE,