diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c b/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c
index f462476d2a..58cd3dd710 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c
@@ -11292,6 +11292,53 @@ qemuDomainPrepareHostdevSCSI(virDomainHostdevDef *hostdev,
 }
 
 
+static int
+qemuDomainPrepareHostdevPCI(virDomainHostdevDef *hostdev,
+                            virQEMUCaps *qemuCaps)
+{
+    bool supportsPassthroughVFIO = qemuHostdevHostSupportsPassthroughVFIO();
+    virDomainHostdevSubsysPCIBackendType *backend = &hostdev->source.subsys.u.pci.backend;
+
+    /* assign defaults for hostdev passthrough */
+    switch (*backend) {
+    case VIR_DOMAIN_HOSTDEV_PCI_BACKEND_DEFAULT:
+        if (supportsPassthroughVFIO) {
+            if (virQEMUCapsGet(qemuCaps, QEMU_CAPS_DEVICE_VFIO_PCI)) {
+                *backend = VIR_DOMAIN_HOSTDEV_PCI_BACKEND_VFIO;
+            } else {
+                virReportError(VIR_ERR_CONFIG_UNSUPPORTED, "%s",
+                               _("VFIO PCI device assignment is not supported by this version of QEMU"));
+                return -1;
+            }
+        } else {
+            virReportError(VIR_ERR_CONFIG_UNSUPPORTED, "%s",
+                           _("host doesn't support passthrough of host PCI devices"));
+            return -1;
+        }
+        break;
+
+    case VIR_DOMAIN_HOSTDEV_PCI_BACKEND_VFIO:
+        if (!supportsPassthroughVFIO) {
+            virReportError(VIR_ERR_CONFIG_UNSUPPORTED, "%s",
+                           _("host doesn't support VFIO PCI passthrough"));
+            return false;
+        }
+        break;
+
+    case VIR_DOMAIN_HOSTDEV_PCI_BACKEND_KVM:
+        virReportError(VIR_ERR_CONFIG_UNSUPPORTED, "%s",
+                       _("host doesn't support legacy PCI passthrough"));
+        return false;
+
+    case VIR_DOMAIN_HOSTDEV_PCI_BACKEND_XEN:
+    case VIR_DOMAIN_HOSTDEV_PCI_BACKEND_TYPE_LAST:
+        break;
+    }
+
+    return true;
+}
+
+
 int
 qemuDomainPrepareHostdev(virDomainHostdevDef *hostdev,
                          qemuDomainObjPrivate *priv)
@@ -11302,8 +11349,9 @@ qemuDomainPrepareHostdev(virDomainHostdevDef *hostdev,
     switch ((virDomainHostdevSubsysType)hostdev->source.subsys.type) {
     case VIR_DOMAIN_HOSTDEV_SUBSYS_TYPE_SCSI:
         return qemuDomainPrepareHostdevSCSI(hostdev, priv);
-    case VIR_DOMAIN_HOSTDEV_SUBSYS_TYPE_USB:
     case VIR_DOMAIN_HOSTDEV_SUBSYS_TYPE_PCI:
+        return qemuDomainPrepareHostdevPCI(hostdev, priv->qemuCaps);
+    case VIR_DOMAIN_HOSTDEV_SUBSYS_TYPE_USB:
     case VIR_DOMAIN_HOSTDEV_SUBSYS_TYPE_SCSI_HOST:
     case VIR_DOMAIN_HOSTDEV_SUBSYS_TYPE_MDEV:
     case VIR_DOMAIN_HOSTDEV_SUBSYS_TYPE_LAST:
diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_hostdev.c b/src/qemu/qemu_hostdev.c
index 45cd1066f0..49347019ea 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_hostdev.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_hostdev.c
@@ -153,60 +153,6 @@ qemuHostdevHostSupportsPassthroughVFIO(void)
 }
 
 
-static bool
-qemuHostdevPreparePCIDevicesCheckSupport(virDomainHostdevDef **hostdevs,
-                                         size_t nhostdevs,
-                                         virQEMUCaps *qemuCaps)
-{
-    bool supportsPassthroughVFIO = qemuHostdevHostSupportsPassthroughVFIO();
-    size_t i;
-
-    /* assign defaults for hostdev passthrough */
-    for (i = 0; i < nhostdevs; i++) {
-        virDomainHostdevDef *hostdev = hostdevs[i];
-        virDomainHostdevSubsysPCIBackendType *backend = &hostdev->source.subsys.u.pci.backend;
-
-        if (hostdev->mode != VIR_DOMAIN_HOSTDEV_MODE_SUBSYS)
-            continue;
-        if (hostdev->source.subsys.type != VIR_DOMAIN_HOSTDEV_SUBSYS_TYPE_PCI)
-            continue;
-
-        switch (*backend) {
-        case VIR_DOMAIN_HOSTDEV_PCI_BACKEND_DEFAULT:
-            if (supportsPassthroughVFIO &&
-                virQEMUCapsGet(qemuCaps, QEMU_CAPS_DEVICE_VFIO_PCI)) {
-                *backend = VIR_DOMAIN_HOSTDEV_PCI_BACKEND_VFIO;
-            } else {
-                virReportError(VIR_ERR_CONFIG_UNSUPPORTED, "%s",
-                               _("host doesn't support passthrough of "
-                                 "host PCI devices"));
-                return false;
-            }
-
-            break;
-
-        case VIR_DOMAIN_HOSTDEV_PCI_BACKEND_VFIO:
-            if (!supportsPassthroughVFIO) {
-                virReportError(VIR_ERR_CONFIG_UNSUPPORTED, "%s",
-                               _("host doesn't support VFIO PCI passthrough"));
-                return false;
-            }
-            break;
-
-        case VIR_DOMAIN_HOSTDEV_PCI_BACKEND_KVM:
-            virReportError(VIR_ERR_CONFIG_UNSUPPORTED, "%s",
-                           _("host doesn't support legacy PCI passthrough"));
-            return false;
-
-        case VIR_DOMAIN_HOSTDEV_PCI_BACKEND_XEN:
-        case VIR_DOMAIN_HOSTDEV_PCI_BACKEND_TYPE_LAST:
-            break;
-        }
-    }
-
-    return true;
-}
-
 int
 qemuHostdevPrepareOneNVMeDisk(virQEMUDriver *driver,
                               const char *name,
@@ -235,15 +181,11 @@ qemuHostdevPreparePCIDevices(virQEMUDriver *driver,
                              const unsigned char *uuid,
                              virDomainHostdevDef **hostdevs,
                              int nhostdevs,
-                             virQEMUCaps *qemuCaps,
+                             virQEMUCaps *qemuCaps G_GNUC_UNUSED,
                              unsigned int flags)
 {
-    virHostdevManager *hostdev_mgr = driver->hostdevMgr;
-
-    if (!qemuHostdevPreparePCIDevicesCheckSupport(hostdevs, nhostdevs, qemuCaps))
-        return -1;
-
-    return virHostdevPreparePCIDevices(hostdev_mgr, QEMU_DRIVER_NAME,
+    return virHostdevPreparePCIDevices(driver->hostdevMgr,
+                                       QEMU_DRIVER_NAME,
                                        name, uuid, hostdevs,
                                        nhostdevs, flags);
 }
diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_hotplug.c b/src/qemu/qemu_hotplug.c
index d4cded15e7..9cefac9001 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_hotplug.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_hotplug.c
@@ -1495,7 +1495,7 @@ qemuDomainAttachHostPCIDevice(virQEMUDriver *driver,
                                      &hostdev, 1, priv->qemuCaps, flags) < 0)
         return -1;
 
-    /* this could have been changed by qemuHostdevPreparePCIDevices */
+    /* this could have been changed by qemuDomainPrepareHostdevPCI() */
     backend = hostdev->source.subsys.u.pci.backend;
 
     switch (backend) {