diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_command.c b/src/qemu/qemu_command.c
index 87cb78e350..2dfd17ad40 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_command.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_command.c
@@ -651,23 +651,6 @@ qemuBuildIoEventFdStr(virBufferPtr buf,
     return 0;
 }
 
-#define QEMU_SERIAL_PARAM_ACCEPTED_CHARS \
-  "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ0123456789-_ .+"
-
-static int
-qemuSafeSerialParamValue(const char *value)
-{
-    if (strspn(value, QEMU_SERIAL_PARAM_ACCEPTED_CHARS) != strlen(value)) {
-        virReportError(VIR_ERR_INTERNAL_ERROR,
-                       _("driver serial '%s' contains unsafe characters"),
-                       value);
-        return -1;
-    }
-
-    return 0;
-}
-
-
 /**
  * qemuBuildSecretInfoProps:
  * @secinfo: pointer to the secret info object
@@ -1140,191 +1123,10 @@ qemuDiskConfigBlkdeviotuneEnabled(virDomainDiskDefPtr disk)
  * error reported.
  */
 int
-qemuCheckDiskConfig(virDomainDiskDefPtr disk,
+qemuCheckDiskConfig(virDomainDiskDefPtr disk G_GNUC_UNUSED,
                     const virDomainDef *def G_GNUC_UNUSED,
-                    virQEMUCapsPtr qemuCaps)
+                    virQEMUCapsPtr qemuCaps G_GNUC_UNUSED)
 {
-    if (disk->wwn) {
-        if ((disk->bus != VIR_DOMAIN_DISK_BUS_IDE) &&
-            (disk->bus != VIR_DOMAIN_DISK_BUS_SCSI)) {
-            virReportError(VIR_ERR_CONFIG_UNSUPPORTED, "%s",
-                           _("Only ide and scsi disk support wwn"));
-            return -1;
-        }
-    }
-
-    if ((disk->vendor || disk->product) &&
-        disk->bus != VIR_DOMAIN_DISK_BUS_SCSI) {
-            virReportError(VIR_ERR_CONFIG_UNSUPPORTED, "%s",
-                           _("Only scsi disk supports vendor and product"));
-            return -1;
-    }
-
-    if (disk->device == VIR_DOMAIN_DISK_DEVICE_LUN) {
-        /* make sure that both the bus supports type='lun' (SG_IO). */
-        if (disk->bus != VIR_DOMAIN_DISK_BUS_VIRTIO &&
-            disk->bus != VIR_DOMAIN_DISK_BUS_SCSI) {
-            virReportError(VIR_ERR_CONFIG_UNSUPPORTED,
-                           _("disk device='lun' is not supported for bus='%s'"),
-                           virDomainDiskBusTypeToString(disk->bus));
-            return -1;
-        }
-
-        if (disk->bus == VIR_DOMAIN_DISK_BUS_SCSI &&
-            disk->src->format != VIR_STORAGE_FILE_RAW) {
-            virReportError(VIR_ERR_CONFIG_UNSUPPORTED, "%s",
-                           _("disk device 'lun' using target 'scsi' must use "
-                             "'raw' format"));
-            return -1;
-        }
-
-        if (qemuDomainDefValidateDiskLunSource(disk->src) < 0)
-            return -1;
-
-        if (disk->wwn) {
-            virReportError(VIR_ERR_CONFIG_UNSUPPORTED, "%s",
-                           _("Setting wwn is not supported for lun device"));
-            return -1;
-        }
-        if (disk->vendor || disk->product) {
-            virReportError(VIR_ERR_CONFIG_UNSUPPORTED, "%s",
-                           _("Setting vendor or product is not supported "
-                             "for lun device"));
-            return -1;
-        }
-    }
-
-    switch (disk->bus) {
-    case VIR_DOMAIN_DISK_BUS_SCSI:
-        if (disk->info.type != VIR_DOMAIN_DEVICE_ADDRESS_TYPE_DRIVE) {
-            virReportError(VIR_ERR_INTERNAL_ERROR, "%s",
-                           _("unexpected address type for scsi disk"));
-            return -1;
-        }
-
-        /* Setting bus= attr for SCSI drives, causes a controller
-         * to be created. Yes this is slightly odd. It is not possible
-         * to have > 1 bus on a SCSI controller (yet). */
-        if (disk->info.addr.drive.bus != 0) {
-            virReportError(VIR_ERR_INTERNAL_ERROR,
-                           "%s", _("SCSI controller only supports 1 bus"));
-            return -1;
-        }
-        break;
-
-    case VIR_DOMAIN_DISK_BUS_IDE:
-        if (disk->info.type != VIR_DOMAIN_DEVICE_ADDRESS_TYPE_DRIVE) {
-            virReportError(VIR_ERR_INTERNAL_ERROR, "%s",
-                           _("unexpected address type for ide disk"));
-            return -1;
-        }
-        /* We can only have 1 IDE controller (currently) */
-        if (disk->info.addr.drive.controller != 0) {
-            virReportError(VIR_ERR_INTERNAL_ERROR, "%s",
-                           _("Only 1 IDE controller is supported"));
-            return -1;
-        }
-        break;
-
-    case VIR_DOMAIN_DISK_BUS_FDC:
-        if (disk->info.type != VIR_DOMAIN_DEVICE_ADDRESS_TYPE_DRIVE) {
-            virReportError(VIR_ERR_INTERNAL_ERROR, "%s",
-                           _("unexpected address type for fdc disk"));
-            return -1;
-        }
-        /* We can only have 1 FDC controller (currently) */
-        if (disk->info.addr.drive.controller != 0) {
-            virReportError(VIR_ERR_INTERNAL_ERROR, "%s",
-                           _("Only 1 fdc controller is supported"));
-            return -1;
-        }
-        /* We can only have 1 FDC bus (currently) */
-        if (disk->info.addr.drive.bus != 0) {
-            virReportError(VIR_ERR_INTERNAL_ERROR, "%s",
-                           _("Only 1 fdc bus is supported"));
-            return -1;
-        }
-        if (disk->info.addr.drive.target != 0) {
-            virReportError(VIR_ERR_CONFIG_UNSUPPORTED, "%s",
-                           _("target must be 0 for controller fdc"));
-            return -1;
-        }
-        break;
-
-    case VIR_DOMAIN_DISK_BUS_VIRTIO:
-    case VIR_DOMAIN_DISK_BUS_XEN:
-    case VIR_DOMAIN_DISK_BUS_SD:
-        break;
-    }
-
-    if (disk->src->readonly &&
-        disk->device == VIR_DOMAIN_DISK_DEVICE_DISK) {
-        if (disk->bus == VIR_DOMAIN_DISK_BUS_IDE) {
-            virReportError(VIR_ERR_CONFIG_UNSUPPORTED, "%s",
-                           _("readonly ide disks are not supported"));
-            return -1;
-        }
-
-        if (disk->bus == VIR_DOMAIN_DISK_BUS_SATA) {
-            virReportError(VIR_ERR_CONFIG_UNSUPPORTED, "%s",
-                           _("readonly sata disks are not supported"));
-            return -1;
-        }
-    }
-
-    if (disk->transient) {
-        virReportError(VIR_ERR_CONFIG_UNSUPPORTED, "%s",
-                       _("transient disks not supported yet"));
-        return -1;
-    }
-
-    if (disk->iomode == VIR_DOMAIN_DISK_IO_NATIVE &&
-        disk->cachemode != VIR_DOMAIN_DISK_CACHE_DIRECTSYNC &&
-        disk->cachemode != VIR_DOMAIN_DISK_CACHE_DISABLE) {
-        virReportError(VIR_ERR_CONFIG_UNSUPPORTED, "%s",
-                       _("native I/O needs either no disk cache "
-                         "or directsync cache mode, QEMU will fallback "
-                         "to aio=threads"));
-        return -1;
-    }
-
-    if (qemuCaps) {
-        if (disk->serial &&
-            disk->bus == VIR_DOMAIN_DISK_BUS_SCSI &&
-            disk->device == VIR_DOMAIN_DISK_DEVICE_LUN) {
-            virReportError(VIR_ERR_CONFIG_UNSUPPORTED, "%s",
-                           _("scsi-block 'lun' devices do not support the "
-                             "serial property"));
-            return -1;
-        }
-
-        if (disk->discard &&
-            !virQEMUCapsGet(qemuCaps, QEMU_CAPS_DRIVE_DISCARD)) {
-            virReportError(VIR_ERR_CONFIG_UNSUPPORTED, "%s",
-                           _("discard is not supported by this QEMU binary"));
-            return -1;
-        }
-
-        if (disk->detect_zeroes &&
-            !virQEMUCapsGet(qemuCaps, QEMU_CAPS_DRIVE_DETECT_ZEROES)) {
-            virReportError(VIR_ERR_CONFIG_UNSUPPORTED, "%s",
-                           _("detect_zeroes is not supported by this QEMU binary"));
-            return -1;
-        }
-
-        if (disk->iomode == VIR_DOMAIN_DISK_IO_URING) {
-            if (!virQEMUCapsGet(qemuCaps, QEMU_CAPS_AIO_IO_URING)) {
-                virReportError(VIR_ERR_CONFIG_UNSUPPORTED, "%s",
-                               _("io uring is not supported by this QEMU binary"));
-                return -1;
-            }
-        }
-    }
-
-    if (disk->serial &&
-        qemuSafeSerialParamValue(disk->serial) < 0)
-        return -1;
-
     return 0;
 }
 
diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_validate.c b/src/qemu/qemu_validate.c
index 17cfcddd30..63cde01762 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_validate.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_validate.c
@@ -1897,8 +1897,26 @@ qemuValidateDomainDeviceDefVideo(const virDomainVideoDef *video,
 }
 
 
+#define QEMU_SERIAL_PARAM_ACCEPTED_CHARS \
+  "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ0123456789-_ .+"
+
 static int
-qemuValidateDomainDeviceDefDiskFrontend(const virDomainDiskDef *disk)
+qemuValidateDomainDeviceDefDiskSerial(const char *value)
+{
+    if (strspn(value, QEMU_SERIAL_PARAM_ACCEPTED_CHARS) != strlen(value)) {
+        virReportError(VIR_ERR_INTERNAL_ERROR,
+                       _("driver serial '%s' contains unsafe characters"),
+                       value);
+        return -1;
+    }
+
+    return 0;
+}
+
+
+static int
+qemuValidateDomainDeviceDefDiskFrontend(const virDomainDiskDef *disk,
+                                        virQEMUCapsPtr qemuCaps)
 {
     if (disk->geometry.cylinders > 0 &&
         disk->geometry.heads > 0 &&
@@ -1952,6 +1970,188 @@ qemuValidateDomainDeviceDefDiskFrontend(const virDomainDiskDef *disk)
         }
     }
 
+    if (disk->wwn) {
+        if ((disk->bus != VIR_DOMAIN_DISK_BUS_IDE) &&
+            (disk->bus != VIR_DOMAIN_DISK_BUS_SCSI)) {
+            virReportError(VIR_ERR_CONFIG_UNSUPPORTED, "%s",
+                           _("Only ide and scsi disk support wwn"));
+            return -1;
+        }
+    }
+
+    if ((disk->vendor || disk->product) &&
+        disk->bus != VIR_DOMAIN_DISK_BUS_SCSI) {
+            virReportError(VIR_ERR_CONFIG_UNSUPPORTED, "%s",
+                           _("Only scsi disk supports vendor and product"));
+            return -1;
+    }
+
+    if (disk->device == VIR_DOMAIN_DISK_DEVICE_LUN) {
+        /* make sure that both the bus supports type='lun' (SG_IO). */
+        if (disk->bus != VIR_DOMAIN_DISK_BUS_VIRTIO &&
+            disk->bus != VIR_DOMAIN_DISK_BUS_SCSI) {
+            virReportError(VIR_ERR_CONFIG_UNSUPPORTED,
+                           _("disk device='lun' is not supported for bus='%s'"),
+                           virDomainDiskBusTypeToString(disk->bus));
+            return -1;
+        }
+
+        if (disk->bus == VIR_DOMAIN_DISK_BUS_SCSI &&
+            disk->src->format != VIR_STORAGE_FILE_RAW) {
+            virReportError(VIR_ERR_CONFIG_UNSUPPORTED, "%s",
+                           _("disk device 'lun' using target 'scsi' must use "
+                             "'raw' format"));
+            return -1;
+        }
+
+        if (qemuDomainDefValidateDiskLunSource(disk->src) < 0)
+            return -1;
+
+        if (disk->wwn) {
+            virReportError(VIR_ERR_CONFIG_UNSUPPORTED, "%s",
+                           _("Setting wwn is not supported for lun device"));
+            return -1;
+        }
+        if (disk->vendor || disk->product) {
+            virReportError(VIR_ERR_CONFIG_UNSUPPORTED, "%s",
+                           _("Setting vendor or product is not supported "
+                             "for lun device"));
+            return -1;
+        }
+    }
+
+    switch (disk->bus) {
+    case VIR_DOMAIN_DISK_BUS_SCSI:
+        if (disk->info.type != VIR_DOMAIN_DEVICE_ADDRESS_TYPE_DRIVE) {
+            virReportError(VIR_ERR_INTERNAL_ERROR, "%s",
+                           _("unexpected address type for scsi disk"));
+            return -1;
+        }
+
+        /* Setting bus= attr for SCSI drives, causes a controller
+         * to be created. Yes this is slightly odd. It is not possible
+         * to have > 1 bus on a SCSI controller (yet). */
+        if (disk->info.addr.drive.bus != 0) {
+            virReportError(VIR_ERR_INTERNAL_ERROR,
+                           "%s", _("SCSI controller only supports 1 bus"));
+            return -1;
+        }
+        break;
+
+    case VIR_DOMAIN_DISK_BUS_IDE:
+        if (disk->info.type != VIR_DOMAIN_DEVICE_ADDRESS_TYPE_DRIVE) {
+            virReportError(VIR_ERR_INTERNAL_ERROR, "%s",
+                           _("unexpected address type for ide disk"));
+            return -1;
+        }
+        /* We can only have 1 IDE controller (currently) */
+        if (disk->info.addr.drive.controller != 0) {
+            virReportError(VIR_ERR_INTERNAL_ERROR, "%s",
+                           _("Only 1 IDE controller is supported"));
+            return -1;
+        }
+        break;
+
+    case VIR_DOMAIN_DISK_BUS_FDC:
+        if (disk->info.type != VIR_DOMAIN_DEVICE_ADDRESS_TYPE_DRIVE) {
+            virReportError(VIR_ERR_INTERNAL_ERROR, "%s",
+                           _("unexpected address type for fdc disk"));
+            return -1;
+        }
+        /* We can only have 1 FDC controller (currently) */
+        if (disk->info.addr.drive.controller != 0) {
+            virReportError(VIR_ERR_INTERNAL_ERROR, "%s",
+                           _("Only 1 fdc controller is supported"));
+            return -1;
+        }
+        /* We can only have 1 FDC bus (currently) */
+        if (disk->info.addr.drive.bus != 0) {
+            virReportError(VIR_ERR_INTERNAL_ERROR, "%s",
+                           _("Only 1 fdc bus is supported"));
+            return -1;
+        }
+        if (disk->info.addr.drive.target != 0) {
+            virReportError(VIR_ERR_CONFIG_UNSUPPORTED, "%s",
+                           _("target must be 0 for controller fdc"));
+            return -1;
+        }
+        break;
+
+    case VIR_DOMAIN_DISK_BUS_VIRTIO:
+    case VIR_DOMAIN_DISK_BUS_XEN:
+    case VIR_DOMAIN_DISK_BUS_SD:
+        break;
+    }
+
+    if (disk->src->readonly &&
+        disk->device == VIR_DOMAIN_DISK_DEVICE_DISK) {
+        if (disk->bus == VIR_DOMAIN_DISK_BUS_IDE) {
+            virReportError(VIR_ERR_CONFIG_UNSUPPORTED, "%s",
+                           _("readonly ide disks are not supported"));
+            return -1;
+        }
+
+        if (disk->bus == VIR_DOMAIN_DISK_BUS_SATA) {
+            virReportError(VIR_ERR_CONFIG_UNSUPPORTED, "%s",
+                           _("readonly sata disks are not supported"));
+            return -1;
+        }
+    }
+
+    if (disk->transient) {
+        virReportError(VIR_ERR_CONFIG_UNSUPPORTED, "%s",
+                       _("transient disks not supported yet"));
+        return -1;
+    }
+
+    if (disk->iomode == VIR_DOMAIN_DISK_IO_NATIVE &&
+        disk->cachemode != VIR_DOMAIN_DISK_CACHE_DIRECTSYNC &&
+        disk->cachemode != VIR_DOMAIN_DISK_CACHE_DISABLE) {
+        virReportError(VIR_ERR_CONFIG_UNSUPPORTED, "%s",
+                       _("native I/O needs either no disk cache "
+                         "or directsync cache mode, QEMU will fallback "
+                         "to aio=threads"));
+        return -1;
+    }
+
+    if (qemuCaps) {
+        if (disk->serial &&
+            disk->bus == VIR_DOMAIN_DISK_BUS_SCSI &&
+            disk->device == VIR_DOMAIN_DISK_DEVICE_LUN) {
+            virReportError(VIR_ERR_CONFIG_UNSUPPORTED, "%s",
+                           _("scsi-block 'lun' devices do not support the "
+                             "serial property"));
+            return -1;
+        }
+
+        if (disk->discard &&
+            !virQEMUCapsGet(qemuCaps, QEMU_CAPS_DRIVE_DISCARD)) {
+            virReportError(VIR_ERR_CONFIG_UNSUPPORTED, "%s",
+                           _("discard is not supported by this QEMU binary"));
+            return -1;
+        }
+
+        if (disk->detect_zeroes &&
+            !virQEMUCapsGet(qemuCaps, QEMU_CAPS_DRIVE_DETECT_ZEROES)) {
+            virReportError(VIR_ERR_CONFIG_UNSUPPORTED, "%s",
+                           _("detect_zeroes is not supported by this QEMU binary"));
+            return -1;
+        }
+
+        if (disk->iomode == VIR_DOMAIN_DISK_IO_URING) {
+            if (!virQEMUCapsGet(qemuCaps, QEMU_CAPS_AIO_IO_URING)) {
+                virReportError(VIR_ERR_CONFIG_UNSUPPORTED, "%s",
+                               _("io uring is not supported by this QEMU binary"));
+                return -1;
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    if (disk->serial &&
+        qemuValidateDomainDeviceDefDiskSerial(disk->serial) < 0)
+        return -1;
+
+
     return 0;
 }
 
@@ -2062,7 +2262,7 @@ qemuValidateDomainDeviceDefDisk(const virDomainDiskDef *disk,
     int idx;
     int partition;
 
-    if (qemuValidateDomainDeviceDefDiskFrontend(disk) < 0)
+    if (qemuValidateDomainDeviceDefDiskFrontend(disk, qemuCaps) < 0)
         return -1;
 
     if (qemuValidateDomainDeviceDefDiskBlkdeviotune(disk, def, qemuCaps) < 0)
diff --git a/tests/qemuxml2argvtest.c b/tests/qemuxml2argvtest.c
index f45f04548f..ad89353910 100644
--- a/tests/qemuxml2argvtest.c
+++ b/tests/qemuxml2argvtest.c
@@ -1115,7 +1115,7 @@ mymain(void)
             QEMU_CAPS_SCSI_LSI, QEMU_CAPS_VIRTIO_SCSI, QEMU_CAPS_SCSI_DISK_WWN);
     DO_TEST("disk-scsi-disk-vpd",
             QEMU_CAPS_SCSI_LSI, QEMU_CAPS_VIRTIO_SCSI, QEMU_CAPS_SCSI_DISK_WWN);
-    DO_TEST_FAILURE("disk-scsi-disk-vpd-build-error",
+    DO_TEST_PARSE_ERROR("disk-scsi-disk-vpd-build-error",
             QEMU_CAPS_SCSI_LSI, QEMU_CAPS_VIRTIO_SCSI, QEMU_CAPS_SCSI_DISK_WWN);
     DO_TEST_CAPS_LATEST("controller-virtio-scsi");
     DO_TEST("disk-sata-device",