diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_command.c b/src/qemu/qemu_command.c
index deaf04f1b2..f729253231 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_command.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_command.c
@@ -4098,15 +4098,8 @@ qemuBuildNVRAMDevStr(virDomainNVRAMDefPtr dev)
 {
     g_auto(virBuffer) buf = VIR_BUFFER_INITIALIZER;
 
-    if (dev->info.type == VIR_DOMAIN_DEVICE_ADDRESS_TYPE_SPAPRVIO &&
-        dev->info.addr.spaprvio.has_reg) {
-        virBufferAsprintf(&buf, "spapr-nvram.reg=0x%llx",
-                          dev->info.addr.spaprvio.reg);
-    } else {
-        virReportError(VIR_ERR_XML_ERROR, "%s",
-                       _("nvram address type must be spaprvio"));
-        return NULL;
-    }
+    virBufferAsprintf(&buf, "spapr-nvram.reg=0x%llx",
+                      dev->info.addr.spaprvio.reg);
 
     return virBufferContentAndReset(&buf);
 }
@@ -4114,31 +4107,19 @@ qemuBuildNVRAMDevStr(virDomainNVRAMDefPtr dev)
 
 static int
 qemuBuildNVRAMCommandLine(virCommandPtr cmd,
-                          const virDomainDef *def,
-                          virQEMUCapsPtr qemuCaps)
+                          const virDomainDef *def)
 {
+    g_autofree char *optstr = NULL;
+
     if (!def->nvram)
         return 0;
 
-    if (qemuDomainIsPSeries(def)) {
-        if (!virQEMUCapsGet(qemuCaps, QEMU_CAPS_DEVICE_NVRAM)) {
-            virReportError(VIR_ERR_CONFIG_UNSUPPORTED, "%s",
-                           _("nvram device is not supported by "
-                             "this QEMU binary"));
-            return -1;
-        }
-
-        g_autofree char *optstr = NULL;
-        virCommandAddArg(cmd, "-global");
-        optstr = qemuBuildNVRAMDevStr(def->nvram);
-        if (!optstr)
-            return -1;
-        virCommandAddArg(cmd, optstr);
-    } else {
-        virReportError(VIR_ERR_CONFIG_UNSUPPORTED, "%s",
-                      _("nvram device is only supported for PPC64"));
+    virCommandAddArg(cmd, "-global");
+    optstr = qemuBuildNVRAMDevStr(def->nvram);
+    if (!optstr)
         return -1;
-    }
+
+    virCommandAddArg(cmd, optstr);
 
     return 0;
 }
@@ -10266,7 +10247,7 @@ qemuBuildCommandLine(virQEMUDriverPtr driver,
                                 chardevStdioLogd) < 0)
         return NULL;
 
-    if (qemuBuildNVRAMCommandLine(cmd, def, qemuCaps) < 0)
+    if (qemuBuildNVRAMCommandLine(cmd, def) < 0)
         return NULL;
 
     if (qemuBuildVMCoreInfoCommandLine(cmd, def, qemuCaps) < 0)
diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c b/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c
index 432af66fa5..58199da7ba 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c
@@ -5312,6 +5312,39 @@ qemuDomainValidateCpuCount(const virDomainDef *def,
 }
 
 
+static int
+qemuDomainDeviceDefValidateNVRAM(virDomainNVRAMDefPtr nvram,
+                                 const virDomainDef *def,
+                                 virQEMUCapsPtr qemuCaps)
+{
+    if (!nvram)
+        return 0;
+
+    if (qemuDomainIsPSeries(def)) {
+        if (!virQEMUCapsGet(qemuCaps, QEMU_CAPS_DEVICE_NVRAM)) {
+            virReportError(VIR_ERR_CONFIG_UNSUPPORTED, "%s",
+                           _("nvram device is not supported by "
+                             "this QEMU binary"));
+            return -1;
+        }
+    } else {
+        virReportError(VIR_ERR_CONFIG_UNSUPPORTED, "%s",
+                       _("nvram device is only supported for PPC64"));
+        return -1;
+    }
+
+    if (!(nvram->info.type == VIR_DOMAIN_DEVICE_ADDRESS_TYPE_SPAPRVIO &&
+          nvram->info.addr.spaprvio.has_reg)) {
+
+        virReportError(VIR_ERR_XML_ERROR, "%s",
+                       _("nvram address type must be spaprvio"));
+        return -1;
+    }
+
+    return 0;
+}
+
+
 static int
 qemuDomainDefValidate(const virDomainDef *def,
                       void *opaque)
@@ -7774,10 +7807,13 @@ qemuDomainDeviceDefValidate(const virDomainDeviceDef *dev,
         ret = qemuDomainDeviceDefValidateFS(dev->data.fs, def, qemuCaps);
         break;
 
+    case VIR_DOMAIN_DEVICE_NVRAM:
+        ret = qemuDomainDeviceDefValidateNVRAM(dev->data.nvram, def, qemuCaps);
+        break;
+
     case VIR_DOMAIN_DEVICE_LEASE:
     case VIR_DOMAIN_DEVICE_SOUND:
     case VIR_DOMAIN_DEVICE_HUB:
-    case VIR_DOMAIN_DEVICE_NVRAM:
     case VIR_DOMAIN_DEVICE_SHMEM:
     case VIR_DOMAIN_DEVICE_MEMORY:
     case VIR_DOMAIN_DEVICE_PANIC:
diff --git a/tests/qemuxml2xmltest.c b/tests/qemuxml2xmltest.c
index 8e19ef1b33..016a5c7df4 100644
--- a/tests/qemuxml2xmltest.c
+++ b/tests/qemuxml2xmltest.c
@@ -562,7 +562,8 @@ mymain(void)
             QEMU_CAPS_DEVICE_VIRTIO_RNG);
 
     DO_TEST("pseries-nvram",
-            QEMU_CAPS_DEVICE_SPAPR_PCI_HOST_BRIDGE);
+            QEMU_CAPS_DEVICE_SPAPR_PCI_HOST_BRIDGE,
+            QEMU_CAPS_DEVICE_NVRAM);
     DO_TEST("pseries-panic-missing",
             QEMU_CAPS_DEVICE_SPAPR_PCI_HOST_BRIDGE);
     DO_TEST("pseries-panic-no-address",