diff --git a/docs/formatdomain.html.in b/docs/formatdomain.html.in
index c88b032c2b..e5e0167262 100644
--- a/docs/formatdomain.html.in
+++ b/docs/formatdomain.html.in
@@ -6300,8 +6300,9 @@ qemu-kvm -net nic,model=? /dev/null
           added memory as a scaled integer.
         </p>
         <p>
-          The mandatory <code>node</code> subelement configures the guest NUMA
-          node to attach the memory to.
+          The <code>node</code> subelement configures the guest NUMA node to
+          attach the memory to. The element shall be used only if the guest has
+          NUMA nodes configured.
         </p>
       </dd>
     </dl>
diff --git a/docs/schemas/domaincommon.rng b/docs/schemas/domaincommon.rng
index f1961773c8..994faceec7 100644
--- a/docs/schemas/domaincommon.rng
+++ b/docs/schemas/domaincommon.rng
@@ -4532,9 +4532,11 @@
         <element name="size">
           <ref name="scaledInteger"/>
         </element>
-        <element name="node">
-          <ref name="unsignedInt"/>
-        </element>
+        <optional>
+          <element name="node">
+            <ref name="unsignedInt"/>
+          </element>
+        </optional>
       </interleave>
     </element>
   </define>
diff --git a/src/conf/domain_conf.c b/src/conf/domain_conf.c
index eb0044449a..0ac7dbf249 100644
--- a/src/conf/domain_conf.c
+++ b/src/conf/domain_conf.c
@@ -12544,10 +12544,15 @@ virDomainMemoryTargetDefParseXML(xmlNodePtr node,
     int ret = -1;
     xmlNodePtr save = ctxt->node;
     ctxt->node = node;
+    int rv;
 
-    if (virXPathUInt("string(./node)", ctxt, &def->targetNode) < 0) {
+    /* initialize to value which marks that the user didn't specify it */
+    def->targetNode = -1;
+
+    if ((rv = virXPathInt("string(./node)", ctxt, &def->targetNode)) == -2 ||
+        (rv == 0 && def->targetNode < 0)) {
         virReportError(VIR_ERR_XML_ERROR, "%s",
-                       _("invalid or missing value of memory device node"));
+                       _("invalid value of memory device node"));
         goto cleanup;
     }
 
@@ -17711,8 +17716,8 @@ virDomainMemoryDefCheckABIStability(virDomainMemoryDefPtr src,
 
     if (src->targetNode != dst->targetNode) {
         virReportError(VIR_ERR_CONFIG_UNSUPPORTED,
-                       _("Target memory device targetNode '%u' "
-                         "doesn't match source targetNode '%u'"),
+                       _("Target memory device targetNode '%d' "
+                         "doesn't match source targetNode '%d'"),
                        dst->targetNode, src->targetNode);
         return false;
     }
@@ -20802,7 +20807,8 @@ virDomainMemoryTargetDefFormat(virBufferPtr buf,
     virBufferAdjustIndent(buf, 2);
 
     virBufferAsprintf(buf, "<size unit='KiB'>%llu</size>\n", def->size);
-    virBufferAsprintf(buf, "<node>%u</node>\n", def->targetNode);
+    if (def->targetNode >= 0)
+        virBufferAsprintf(buf, "<node>%d</node>\n", def->targetNode);
 
     virBufferAdjustIndent(buf, -2);
     virBufferAddLit(buf, "</target>\n");
diff --git a/src/conf/domain_conf.h b/src/conf/domain_conf.h
index f10b5348b7..8d43ee65d8 100644
--- a/src/conf/domain_conf.h
+++ b/src/conf/domain_conf.h
@@ -2022,7 +2022,7 @@ struct _virDomainMemoryDef {
 
     /* target */
     int model; /* virDomainMemoryModel */
-    unsigned int targetNode;
+    int targetNode;
     unsigned long long size; /* kibibytes */
 
     virDomainDeviceInfo info;
diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c b/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c
index 507d44695f..52488ab08d 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c
@@ -3597,6 +3597,13 @@ qemuDomainDefValidateMemoryHotplugDevice(const virDomainMemoryDef *mem,
             return -1;
         }
 
+        if (mem->targetNode == -1) {
+            virReportError(VIR_ERR_CONFIG_UNSUPPORTED, "%s",
+                           _("target NUMA node needs to be specified for "
+                             "memory device"));
+            return -1;
+        }
+
         if (mem->info.type == VIR_DOMAIN_DEVICE_ADDRESS_TYPE_DIMM) {
             if (mem->info.addr.dimm.slot >= def->mem.memory_slots) {
                 virReportError(VIR_ERR_CONFIG_UNSUPPORTED,