diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index a58b73d949..b9375f1eda 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -391,6 +391,8 @@ dnl External programs that we can use if they are available.
 dnl We will hard-code paths to these programs unless we cannot
 dnl detect them, in which case we'll search for the program
 dnl along the $PATH at runtime and fail if it's not there.
+AC_PATH_PROG([DMIDECODE], [dmidecode], [dmidecode],
+	[/sbin:/usr/sbin:/usr/local/sbin:$PATH])
 AC_PATH_PROG([DNSMASQ], [dnsmasq], [dnsmasq],
 	[/sbin:/usr/sbin:/usr/local/sbin:$PATH])
 AC_PATH_PROG([RADVD], [radvd], [radvd],
@@ -408,6 +410,8 @@ AC_PATH_PROG([OVSVSCTL], [ovs-vsctl], [ovs-vsctl],
 AC_PATH_PROG([SCRUB], [scrub], [scrub],
 	[/sbin:/usr/sbin:/usr/local/sbin:$PATH])
 
+AC_DEFINE_UNQUOTED([DMIDECODE],["$DMIDECODE"],
+        [Location or name of the dmidecode program])
 AC_DEFINE_UNQUOTED([DNSMASQ],["$DNSMASQ"],
         [Location or name of the dnsmasq program])
 AC_DEFINE_UNQUOTED([RADVD],["$RADVD"],
diff --git a/src/util/virsysinfo.c b/src/util/virsysinfo.c
index b264c00016..f58122f932 100644
--- a/src/util/virsysinfo.c
+++ b/src/util/virsysinfo.c
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@
 VIR_ENUM_IMPL(virSysinfo, VIR_SYSINFO_LAST,
               "smbios");
 
-static const char *sysinfoDmidecode = "dmidecode";
+static const char *sysinfoDmidecode = DMIDECODE;
 static const char *sysinfoSysinfo = "/proc/sysinfo";
 static const char *sysinfoCpuinfo = "/proc/cpuinfo";