diff --git a/src/libxl/libxl_driver.c b/src/libxl/libxl_driver.c
index 7ec4fcc3d1..980984b199 100644
--- a/src/libxl/libxl_driver.c
+++ b/src/libxl/libxl_driver.c
@@ -702,14 +702,14 @@ libxlStateInitialize(bool privileged,
     if (!(cfg = libxlDriverConfigNew()))
         goto error;
 
+    if (libxlDriverConfigInit(cfg) < 0)
+        goto error;
+
     driverConf = g_strdup_printf("%s/libxl.conf", cfg->configBaseDir);
 
     if (libxlDriverConfigLoadFile(cfg, driverConf) < 0)
         goto error;
 
-    if (libxlDriverConfigInit(cfg) < 0)
-        goto error;
-
     /* Register the callbacks providing access to libvirt's event loop */
     libxl_osevent_register_hooks(cfg->ctx, &libxl_osevent_callbacks, cfg->ctx);