diff --git a/docs/schemas/domaincommon.rng b/docs/schemas/domaincommon.rng
index 66fcbeebda..56ea6a43e3 100644
--- a/docs/schemas/domaincommon.rng
+++ b/docs/schemas/domaincommon.rng
@@ -5089,7 +5089,7 @@
   </define>
   <define name="diskSerial">
     <data type="string">
-      <param name="pattern">[A-Za-z0-9_\.\+\-]+</param>
+      <param name="pattern">[A-Za-z0-9_\.\+\- ]+</param>
     </data>
   </define>
   <define name="bridgeMode">
diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_command.c b/src/qemu/qemu_command.c
index 8202219e75..abfa943687 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_command.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_command.c
@@ -2630,7 +2630,7 @@ qemuBuildIoEventFdStr(virBufferPtr buf,
 }
 
 #define QEMU_SERIAL_PARAM_ACCEPTED_CHARS \
-  "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ0123456789-_"
+  "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ0123456789-_ "
 
 static int
 qemuSafeSerialParamValue(const char *value)
@@ -3613,7 +3613,8 @@ qemuBuildDriveStr(virConnectPtr conn,
         virQEMUCapsGet(qemuCaps, QEMU_CAPS_DRIVE_SERIAL)) {
         if (qemuSafeSerialParamValue(disk->serial) < 0)
             goto error;
-        virBufferAsprintf(&opt, ",serial=%s", disk->serial);
+        virBufferAddLit(&opt, ",serial=");
+        virBufferEscape(&opt, '\\', " ", "%s", disk->serial);
     }
 
     if (disk->cachemode) {
diff --git a/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/qemuxml2argv-disk-serial.args b/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/qemuxml2argv-disk-serial.args
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..794b94b758
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/qemuxml2argv-disk-serial.args
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+LC_ALL=C PATH=/bin HOME=/home/test USER=test LOGNAME=test QEMU_AUDIO_DRV=none \
+/usr/libexec/qemu-kvm -S -M pc -cpu qemu32 -m 214 -smp 1 -nographic -nodefaults \
+-monitor unix:/tmp/test-monitor,server,nowait -no-acpi -boot c -usb \
+-drive 'file=/dev/HostVG/QEMUGuest1,if=none,\
+id=drive-ide0-0-1,serial=\ \ WD-WMAP9A966149' \
+-device ide-drive,bus=ide.0,unit=1,drive=drive-ide0-0-1,id=ide0-0-1 \
+-device virtio-balloon-pci,id=balloon0,bus=pci.0,addr=0x3
diff --git a/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/qemuxml2argv-disk-serial.xml b/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/qemuxml2argv-disk-serial.xml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..0fe75f3c31
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/qemuxml2argv-disk-serial.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+<domain type='kvm'>
+  <name>QEMUGuest1</name>
+  <uuid>c7a5fdbd-edaf-9455-926a-d65c16db1809</uuid>
+  <memory unit='KiB'>219136</memory>
+  <currentMemory unit='KiB'>219136</currentMemory>
+  <vcpu placement='static'>1</vcpu>
+  <os>
+    <type arch='i686' machine='pc'>hvm</type>
+    <boot dev='hd'/>
+  </os>
+  <clock offset='utc'/>
+  <on_poweroff>destroy</on_poweroff>
+  <on_reboot>restart</on_reboot>
+  <on_crash>destroy</on_crash>
+  <devices>
+    <emulator>/usr/libexec/qemu-kvm</emulator>
+    <disk type='block' device='disk'>
+      <source dev='/dev/HostVG/QEMUGuest1'/>
+      <target dev='hda' bus='ide'/>
+      <serial>  WD-WMAP9A966149</serial>
+      <address type='drive' controller='0' bus='0' target='0' unit='1'/>
+    </disk>
+    <controller type='usb' index='0'/>
+    <controller type='ide' index='0'/>
+    <memballoon model='virtio'/>
+  </devices>
+</domain>
diff --git a/tests/qemuxml2argvtest.c b/tests/qemuxml2argvtest.c
index 2170ffa6e5..bd7c774eb1 100644
--- a/tests/qemuxml2argvtest.c
+++ b/tests/qemuxml2argvtest.c
@@ -902,6 +902,11 @@ mymain(void)
             QEMU_CAPS_DEVICE,
             QEMU_CAPS_SCSI_BLOCK, QEMU_CAPS_VIRTIO_BLK_SG_IO,
             QEMU_CAPS_SCSI_LSI, QEMU_CAPS_VIRTIO_SCSI);
+    DO_TEST("disk-serial",
+            QEMU_CAPS_KVM,
+            QEMU_CAPS_DEVICE,
+            QEMU_CAPS_DRIVE,
+            QEMU_CAPS_DRIVE_SERIAL);
 
     DO_TEST("graphics-vnc", QEMU_CAPS_VNC);
     DO_TEST("graphics-vnc-socket", QEMU_CAPS_VNC);