diff --git a/src/conf/domain_conf.c b/src/conf/domain_conf.c
index 8fd774b531..be9c08626a 100644
--- a/src/conf/domain_conf.c
+++ b/src/conf/domain_conf.c
@@ -6184,6 +6184,35 @@ virDomainDefLifecycleActionValidate(const virDomainDef *def)
 }
 
 
+static int
+virDomainDefMemtuneValidate(const virDomainDef *def)
+{
+    const virDomainMemtune *mem = &(def->mem);
+    size_t i;
+    ssize_t pos = virDomainNumaGetNodeCount(def->numa) - 1;
+
+    for (i = 0; i < mem->nhugepages; i++) {
+        ssize_t nextBit;
+
+        if (!mem->hugepages[i].nodemask) {
+            /* This is the master hugepage to use. Skip it as it has no
+             * nodemask anyway. */
+            continue;
+        }
+
+        nextBit = virBitmapNextSetBit(mem->hugepages[i].nodemask, pos);
+        if (nextBit >= 0) {
+            virReportError(VIR_ERR_XML_DETAIL,
+                           _("hugepages: node %zd not found"),
+                           nextBit);
+            return -1;
+        }
+    }
+
+    return 0;
+}
+
+
 static int
 virDomainDefValidateInternal(const virDomainDef *def)
 {
@@ -6219,6 +6248,9 @@ virDomainDefValidateInternal(const virDomainDef *def)
     if (virDomainDefLifecycleActionValidate(def) < 0)
         return -1;
 
+    if (virDomainDefMemtuneValidate(def) < 0)
+        return -1;
+
     return 0;
 }
 
diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_command.c b/src/qemu/qemu_command.c
index 12ff09d46d..a3fadc505d 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_command.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_command.c
@@ -7433,16 +7433,6 @@ qemuBuildMemPathStr(virQEMUDriverConfigPtr cfg,
     if (!def->mem.nhugepages)
         return 0;
 
-    if (def->mem.hugepages[0].nodemask) {
-        ssize_t next_bit = virBitmapNextSetBit(def->mem.hugepages[0].nodemask, -1);
-        if (next_bit >= 0) {
-            virReportError(VIR_ERR_XML_DETAIL,
-                           _("hugepages: node %zd not found"),
-                           next_bit);
-            return -1;
-        }
-    }
-
     /* There is one special case: if user specified "huge"
      * pages of regular system pages size.
      * And there is nothing to do in this case.
@@ -7575,30 +7565,6 @@ qemuBuildNumaArgStr(virQEMUDriverConfigPtr cfg,
     if (!virDomainNumatuneNodesetIsAvailable(def->numa, priv->autoNodeset))
         goto cleanup;
 
-    for (i = 0; i < def->mem.nhugepages; i++) {
-        ssize_t next_bit, pos = 0;
-
-        if (!def->mem.hugepages[i].nodemask) {
-            /* This is the master hugepage to use. Skip it as it has no
-             * nodemask anyway. */
-            continue;
-        }
-
-        if (ncells) {
-            /* Fortunately, we allow only guest NUMA nodes to be continuous
-             * starting from zero. */
-            pos = ncells - 1;
-        }
-
-        next_bit = virBitmapNextSetBit(def->mem.hugepages[i].nodemask, pos);
-        if (next_bit >= 0) {
-            virReportError(VIR_ERR_XML_DETAIL,
-                           _("hugepages: node %zd not found"),
-                           next_bit);
-            goto cleanup;
-        }
-    }
-
     if (VIR_ALLOC_N(nodeBackends, ncells) < 0)
         goto cleanup;
 
diff --git a/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/seclabel-dynamic-none-relabel.xml b/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/seclabel-dynamic-none-relabel.xml
index 47f253b5f7..e954250009 100644
--- a/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/seclabel-dynamic-none-relabel.xml
+++ b/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/seclabel-dynamic-none-relabel.xml
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
   <currentMemory unit='KiB'>262144</currentMemory>
   <memoryBacking>
     <hugepages>
-      <page size='2048' unit='KiB' nodeset='0'/>
+      <page size='2048' unit='KiB'/>
     </hugepages>
   </memoryBacking>
   <vcpu placement='static'>4</vcpu>
diff --git a/tests/qemuxml2argvtest.c b/tests/qemuxml2argvtest.c
index 7721827f40..8d883efafd 100644
--- a/tests/qemuxml2argvtest.c
+++ b/tests/qemuxml2argvtest.c
@@ -958,12 +958,12 @@ mymain(void)
     DO_TEST("hugepages-default", NONE);
     DO_TEST("hugepages-default-2M", NONE);
     DO_TEST("hugepages-default-system-size", NONE);
-    DO_TEST("hugepages-default-1G-nodeset-2M", NONE);
-    DO_TEST_FAILURE("hugepages-nodeset", NONE);
-    DO_TEST_FAILURE("hugepages-nodeset-nonexist",
-                    QEMU_CAPS_DEVICE_PC_DIMM,
-                    QEMU_CAPS_OBJECT_MEMORY_FILE,
-                    QEMU_CAPS_OBJECT_MEMORY_FILE_DISCARD);
+    DO_TEST_PARSE_ERROR("hugepages-default-1G-nodeset-2M", NONE);
+    DO_TEST_PARSE_ERROR("hugepages-nodeset", NONE);
+    DO_TEST_PARSE_ERROR("hugepages-nodeset-nonexist",
+                        QEMU_CAPS_DEVICE_PC_DIMM,
+                        QEMU_CAPS_OBJECT_MEMORY_FILE,
+                        QEMU_CAPS_OBJECT_MEMORY_FILE_DISCARD);
     DO_TEST("hugepages-numa-default",
             QEMU_CAPS_OBJECT_MEMORY_FILE);
     DO_TEST("hugepages-numa-default-2M",
@@ -978,9 +978,9 @@ mymain(void)
     DO_TEST("hugepages-numa-nodeset-part",
             QEMU_CAPS_OBJECT_MEMORY_RAM,
             QEMU_CAPS_OBJECT_MEMORY_FILE);
-    DO_TEST_FAILURE("hugepages-numa-nodeset-nonexist",
-                    QEMU_CAPS_OBJECT_MEMORY_RAM,
-                    QEMU_CAPS_OBJECT_MEMORY_FILE);
+    DO_TEST_PARSE_ERROR("hugepages-numa-nodeset-nonexist",
+                        QEMU_CAPS_OBJECT_MEMORY_RAM,
+                        QEMU_CAPS_OBJECT_MEMORY_FILE);
     DO_TEST("hugepages-shared",
             QEMU_CAPS_OBJECT_MEMORY_RAM,
             QEMU_CAPS_OBJECT_MEMORY_FILE);
diff --git a/tests/qemuxml2xmloutdata/hugepages-default-1G-nodeset-2M.xml b/tests/qemuxml2xmloutdata/hugepages-default-1G-nodeset-2M.xml
deleted file mode 120000
index 3d8eb7616e..0000000000
--- a/tests/qemuxml2xmloutdata/hugepages-default-1G-nodeset-2M.xml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-../qemuxml2argvdata/hugepages-default-1G-nodeset-2M.xml
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/tests/qemuxml2xmloutdata/hugepages-nodeset.xml b/tests/qemuxml2xmloutdata/hugepages-nodeset.xml
deleted file mode 120000
index b55838b780..0000000000
--- a/tests/qemuxml2xmloutdata/hugepages-nodeset.xml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-../qemuxml2argvdata/hugepages-nodeset.xml
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/tests/qemuxml2xmloutdata/hugepages-numa-nodeset-nonexist.xml b/tests/qemuxml2xmloutdata/hugepages-numa-nodeset-nonexist.xml
deleted file mode 120000
index d490edca69..0000000000
--- a/tests/qemuxml2xmloutdata/hugepages-numa-nodeset-nonexist.xml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-../qemuxml2argvdata/hugepages-numa-nodeset-nonexist.xml
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/tests/qemuxml2xmloutdata/seclabel-dynamic-none-relabel.xml b/tests/qemuxml2xmloutdata/seclabel-dynamic-none-relabel.xml
index 050967b4ee..bfa66b8deb 100644
--- a/tests/qemuxml2xmloutdata/seclabel-dynamic-none-relabel.xml
+++ b/tests/qemuxml2xmloutdata/seclabel-dynamic-none-relabel.xml
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
   <currentMemory unit='KiB'>262144</currentMemory>
   <memoryBacking>
     <hugepages>
-      <page size='2048' unit='KiB' nodeset='0'/>
+      <page size='2048' unit='KiB'/>
     </hugepages>
   </memoryBacking>
   <vcpu placement='static'>4</vcpu>
diff --git a/tests/qemuxml2xmltest.c b/tests/qemuxml2xmltest.c
index 7c4a649a6e..d5f6db5504 100644
--- a/tests/qemuxml2xmltest.c
+++ b/tests/qemuxml2xmltest.c
@@ -331,13 +331,10 @@ mymain(void)
     DO_TEST("hugepages-default", NONE);
     DO_TEST("hugepages-default-2M", NONE);
     DO_TEST("hugepages-default-system-size", NONE);
-    DO_TEST("hugepages-default-1G-nodeset-2M", NONE);
-    DO_TEST("hugepages-nodeset", NONE);
     DO_TEST("hugepages-numa-default-2M", NONE);
     DO_TEST("hugepages-numa-default-dimm", NONE);
     DO_TEST("hugepages-numa-nodeset", NONE);
     DO_TEST("hugepages-numa-nodeset-part", NONE);
-    DO_TEST("hugepages-numa-nodeset-nonexist", NONE);
     DO_TEST("hugepages-shared", NONE);
     DO_TEST("hugepages-memaccess", NONE);
     DO_TEST("hugepages-memaccess2", NONE);