diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_capabilities.c b/src/qemu/qemu_capabilities.c
index 461a818776..40c68e200f 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_capabilities.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_capabilities.c
@@ -4411,8 +4411,11 @@ virQEMUCapsLoadCache(virArch hostArch,
             return -1;
     }
 
-    if (virQEMUCapsLoadAccel(qemuCaps, ctxt, VIR_DOMAIN_VIRT_KVM) < 0 ||
-        virQEMUCapsLoadAccel(qemuCaps, ctxt, VIR_DOMAIN_VIRT_QEMU) < 0)
+    if (virQEMUCapsGet(qemuCaps, QEMU_CAPS_KVM) &&
+        virQEMUCapsLoadAccel(qemuCaps, ctxt, VIR_DOMAIN_VIRT_KVM) < 0) {
+        return -1;
+    }
+    if (virQEMUCapsLoadAccel(qemuCaps, ctxt, VIR_DOMAIN_VIRT_QEMU) < 0)
         return -1;
 
     if (virQEMUCapsParseGIC(qemuCaps, ctxt) < 0)
@@ -4421,7 +4424,8 @@ virQEMUCapsLoadCache(virArch hostArch,
     if (virQEMUCapsParseSEVInfo(qemuCaps, ctxt) < 0)
         return -1;
 
-    virQEMUCapsInitHostCPUModel(qemuCaps, hostArch, VIR_DOMAIN_VIRT_KVM);
+    if (virQEMUCapsGet(qemuCaps, QEMU_CAPS_KVM))
+        virQEMUCapsInitHostCPUModel(qemuCaps, hostArch, VIR_DOMAIN_VIRT_KVM);
     virQEMUCapsInitHostCPUModel(qemuCaps, hostArch, VIR_DOMAIN_VIRT_QEMU);
 
     if (virXPathBoolean("boolean(./kvmSupportsNesting)", ctxt) > 0)
@@ -4654,7 +4658,8 @@ virQEMUCapsFormatCache(virQEMUCaps *qemuCaps)
     virBufferAsprintf(&buf, "<arch>%s</arch>\n",
                       virArchToString(qemuCaps->arch));
 
-    virQEMUCapsFormatAccel(qemuCaps, &buf, VIR_DOMAIN_VIRT_KVM);
+    if (virQEMUCapsGet(qemuCaps, QEMU_CAPS_KVM))
+        virQEMUCapsFormatAccel(qemuCaps, &buf, VIR_DOMAIN_VIRT_KVM);
     virQEMUCapsFormatAccel(qemuCaps, &buf, VIR_DOMAIN_VIRT_QEMU);
 
     for (i = 0; i < qemuCaps->ngicCapabilities; i++) {
@@ -5508,7 +5513,8 @@ virQEMUCapsNewForBinaryInternal(virArch hostArch,
     qemuCaps->libvirtCtime = virGetSelfLastChanged();
     qemuCaps->libvirtVersion = LIBVIR_VERSION_NUMBER;
 
-    virQEMUCapsInitHostCPUModel(qemuCaps, hostArch, VIR_DOMAIN_VIRT_KVM);
+    if (virQEMUCapsGet(qemuCaps, QEMU_CAPS_KVM))
+        virQEMUCapsInitHostCPUModel(qemuCaps, hostArch, VIR_DOMAIN_VIRT_KVM);
     virQEMUCapsInitHostCPUModel(qemuCaps, hostArch, VIR_DOMAIN_VIRT_QEMU);
 
     if (virQEMUCapsGet(qemuCaps, QEMU_CAPS_KVM)) {