diff --git a/src/conf/snapshot_conf.c b/src/conf/snapshot_conf.c
index 4b5b908d66..9bf3c78353 100644
--- a/src/conf/snapshot_conf.c
+++ b/src/conf/snapshot_conf.c
@@ -158,6 +158,11 @@ virDomainSnapshotDiskDefParseXML(xmlNodePtr node,
         return -1;
     }
 
+    if (flags & VIR_DOMAIN_SNAPSHOT_PARSE_REDEFINE) {
+        def->snapshotDeleteInProgress = !!virXPathNode("./snapshotDeleteInProgress",
+                                                       ctxt);
+    }
+
     if ((cur = virXPathNode("./source", ctxt)) &&
         virDomainStorageSourceParse(cur, ctxt, src, flags, xmlopt) < 0)
         return -1;
@@ -744,6 +749,9 @@ virDomainSnapshotDiskDefFormat(virBuffer *buf,
         virBufferAsprintf(&attrBuf, " snapshot='%s'",
                           virDomainSnapshotLocationTypeToString(disk->snapshot));
 
+    if (disk->snapshotDeleteInProgress)
+        virBufferAddLit(&childBuf, "<snapshotDeleteInProgress/>\n");
+
     if (disk->src->path || disk->src->format != 0) {
         g_auto(virBuffer) driverAttrBuf = VIR_BUFFER_INITIALIZER;
         g_auto(virBuffer) driverChildBuf = VIR_BUFFER_INIT_CHILD(&childBuf);
diff --git a/src/conf/snapshot_conf.h b/src/conf/snapshot_conf.h
index fec4a5a912..96c77ef42b 100644
--- a/src/conf/snapshot_conf.h
+++ b/src/conf/snapshot_conf.h
@@ -52,6 +52,7 @@ typedef struct _virDomainSnapshotDiskDef virDomainSnapshotDiskDef;
 struct _virDomainSnapshotDiskDef {
     char *name;     /* name matching the <target dev='...' of the domain */
     virDomainSnapshotLocation snapshot;
+    bool snapshotDeleteInProgress;
 
     /* details of wrapper external file. src is always non-NULL.
      * XXX optimize this to allow NULL for internal snapshots? */
diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_snapshot.c b/src/qemu/qemu_snapshot.c
index 06cc6ef8c0..189fe98299 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_snapshot.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_snapshot.c
@@ -2316,6 +2316,13 @@ qemuSnapshotDeleteExternalPrepare(virDomainObj *vm,
         if (snapDisk->snapshot == VIR_DOMAIN_SNAPSHOT_LOCATION_NO)
             continue;
 
+        if (snapDisk->snapshotDeleteInProgress) {
+            virReportError(VIR_ERR_OPERATION_INVALID,
+                           _("snapshot disk '%s' was target of not completed snapshot delete"),
+                           snapDisk->name);
+            return NULL;
+        }
+
         data = g_new0(qemuSnapshotDeleteExternalData, 1);
         data->snapDisk = snapDisk;
 
@@ -2628,6 +2635,53 @@ qemuSnapshotDeleteBlockJobFinishing(virDomainObj *vm,
 }
 
 
+/**
+ * qemuSnapshotSetInvalid:
+ * @vm: vm object
+ * @snap: snapshot object that contains parent disk
+ * @disk: disk from the snapshot we are deleting
+ * @invalid: boolean to set/unset invalid state
+ *
+ * @snap should point to a ancestor snapshot from the snapshot tree that
+ * affected the @disk which doesn't have to be the direct parent.
+ *
+ * When setting snapshot with parent disk as invalid due to snapshot being
+ * deleted we should not mark the whole snapshot as invalid but only the
+ * affected disks because the snapshot can contain other disks that we are
+ * not modifying at the moment.
+ *
+ * Return 0 on success, -1 on error.
+ * */
+static int
+qemuSnapshotSetInvalid(virDomainObj *vm,
+                       virDomainMomentObj *snap,
+                       virDomainSnapshotDiskDef *disk,
+                       bool invalid)
+{
+    ssize_t i;
+    qemuDomainObjPrivate *priv = vm->privateData;
+    virQEMUDriver *driver = priv->driver;
+    g_autoptr(virQEMUDriverConfig) cfg = virQEMUDriverGetConfig(driver);
+    virDomainSnapshotDef *snapdef = NULL;
+
+    if (!snap)
+        return 0;
+
+    snapdef = virDomainSnapshotObjGetDef(snap);
+    if (!snapdef)
+        return 0;
+
+    for (i = 0; i < snapdef->ndisks; i++) {
+        virDomainSnapshotDiskDef *snapDisk = &(snapdef->disks[i]);
+
+        if (STREQ(snapDisk->name, disk->name))
+            snapDisk->snapshotDeleteInProgress = invalid;
+    }
+
+    return qemuDomainSnapshotWriteMetadata(vm, snap, driver->xmlopt, cfg->snapshotDir);
+}
+
+
 static int
 qemuSnapshotDiscardExternal(virDomainObj *vm,
                             GSList *externalData)
@@ -2644,6 +2698,9 @@ qemuSnapshotDiscardExternal(virDomainObj *vm,
             autofinalize = VIR_TRISTATE_BOOL_YES;
         }
 
+        if (qemuSnapshotSetInvalid(vm, data->parentSnap, data->snapDisk, true) < 0)
+            goto error;
+
         data->job = qemuBlockCommit(vm,
                                     data->domDisk,
                                     data->parentDiskSrc,
@@ -2694,6 +2751,9 @@ qemuSnapshotDiscardExternal(virDomainObj *vm,
         }
 
         qemuBlockJobSyncEnd(vm, data->job, VIR_ASYNC_JOB_SNAPSHOT);
+
+        if (qemuSnapshotSetInvalid(vm, data->parentSnap, data->snapDisk, false) < 0)
+            goto error;
     }
 
     return 0;