diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_command.c b/src/qemu/qemu_command.c
index d03ddb0886..b96f2d33c1 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_command.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_command.c
@@ -3658,6 +3658,10 @@ qemuBuildThreadContextProps(virJSONValue **tcProps,
     if (!nodemask)
         return 0;
 
+    if (virJSONValueObjectGetBoolean(*memProps, "prealloc", &prealloc) < 0 ||
+        !prealloc)
+        return 0;
+
     memalias = virJSONValueObjectGetString(*memProps, "id");
     if (!memalias) {
         virReportError(VIR_ERR_INTERNAL_ERROR, "%s",
@@ -3680,11 +3684,8 @@ qemuBuildThreadContextProps(virJSONValue **tcProps,
                               NULL) < 0)
         return -1;
 
-    if (virJSONValueObjectGetBoolean(*memProps, "prealloc", &prealloc) >= 0 &&
-        prealloc) {
-        priv->threadContextAliases = g_slist_prepend(priv->threadContextAliases,
-                                                     g_steal_pointer(&tcAlias));
-    }
+    priv->threadContextAliases = g_slist_prepend(priv->threadContextAliases,
+                                                 g_steal_pointer(&tcAlias));
 
     *tcProps = g_steal_pointer(&props);
     return 0;
diff --git a/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/hugepages-memaccess2.x86_64-latest.args b/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/hugepages-memaccess2.x86_64-latest.args
index f73da5865d..fedc9fe1ce 100644
--- a/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/hugepages-memaccess2.x86_64-latest.args
+++ b/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/hugepages-memaccess2.x86_64-latest.args
@@ -16,17 +16,14 @@ XDG_CONFIG_HOME=/tmp/lib/domain--1-QEMUGuest1/.config \
 -m size=4194304k,slots=16,maxmem=8388608k \
 -overcommit mem-lock=off \
 -smp 4,sockets=4,cores=1,threads=1 \
--object '{"qom-type":"thread-context","id":"tc-ram-node0","node-affinity":[0,1,2,3]}' \
--object '{"qom-type":"memory-backend-file","id":"ram-node0","mem-path":"/var/lib/libvirt/qemu/ram/-1-QEMUGuest1/ram-node0","share":false,"size":1073741824,"host-nodes":[0,1,2,3],"policy":"bind","prealloc-context":"tc-ram-node0"}' \
+-object '{"qom-type":"memory-backend-file","id":"ram-node0","mem-path":"/var/lib/libvirt/qemu/ram/-1-QEMUGuest1/ram-node0","share":false,"size":1073741824,"host-nodes":[0,1,2,3],"policy":"bind"}' \
 -numa node,nodeid=0,cpus=0,memdev=ram-node0 \
 -object '{"qom-type":"thread-context","id":"tc-ram-node1","node-affinity":[0,1,2,3]}' \
 -object '{"qom-type":"memory-backend-file","id":"ram-node1","mem-path":"/dev/hugepages2M/libvirt/qemu/-1-QEMUGuest1","share":true,"prealloc":true,"size":1073741824,"host-nodes":[0,1,2,3],"policy":"bind","prealloc-context":"tc-ram-node1"}' \
 -numa node,nodeid=1,cpus=1,memdev=ram-node1 \
--object '{"qom-type":"thread-context","id":"tc-ram-node2","node-affinity":[0,1,2,3]}' \
--object '{"qom-type":"memory-backend-file","id":"ram-node2","mem-path":"/var/lib/libvirt/qemu/ram/-1-QEMUGuest1/ram-node2","share":false,"size":1073741824,"host-nodes":[0,1,2,3],"policy":"bind","prealloc-context":"tc-ram-node2"}' \
+-object '{"qom-type":"memory-backend-file","id":"ram-node2","mem-path":"/var/lib/libvirt/qemu/ram/-1-QEMUGuest1/ram-node2","share":false,"size":1073741824,"host-nodes":[0,1,2,3],"policy":"bind"}' \
 -numa node,nodeid=2,cpus=2,memdev=ram-node2 \
--object '{"qom-type":"thread-context","id":"tc-ram-node3","node-affinity":[3]}' \
--object '{"qom-type":"memory-backend-file","id":"ram-node3","mem-path":"/var/lib/libvirt/qemu/ram/-1-QEMUGuest1/ram-node3","share":false,"size":1073741824,"host-nodes":[3],"policy":"bind","prealloc-context":"tc-ram-node3"}' \
+-object '{"qom-type":"memory-backend-file","id":"ram-node3","mem-path":"/var/lib/libvirt/qemu/ram/-1-QEMUGuest1/ram-node3","share":false,"size":1073741824,"host-nodes":[3],"policy":"bind"}' \
 -numa node,nodeid=3,cpus=3,memdev=ram-node3 \
 -uuid c7a5fdbd-edaf-9455-926a-d65c16db1809 \
 -display none \
diff --git a/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/memory-hotplug-virtio-mem.x86_64-latest.args b/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/memory-hotplug-virtio-mem.x86_64-latest.args
index 04876fc044..5aa8110aeb 100644
--- a/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/memory-hotplug-virtio-mem.x86_64-latest.args
+++ b/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/memory-hotplug-virtio-mem.x86_64-latest.args
@@ -32,8 +32,7 @@ XDG_CONFIG_HOME=/tmp/lib/domain--1-QEMUGuest1/.config \
 -device '{"driver":"piix3-usb-uhci","id":"usb","bus":"pci.0","addr":"0x1.0x2"}' \
 -object '{"qom-type":"memory-backend-ram","id":"memvirtiomem0","reserve":false,"size":1073741824}' \
 -device '{"driver":"virtio-mem-pci","node":0,"block-size":2097152,"requested-size":536870912,"memdev":"memvirtiomem0","id":"virtiomem0","bus":"pci.0","addr":"0x2"}' \
--object '{"qom-type":"thread-context","id":"tc-memvirtiomem1","node-affinity":[1,2,3]}' \
--object '{"qom-type":"memory-backend-file","id":"memvirtiomem1","mem-path":"/dev/hugepages2M/libvirt/qemu/-1-QEMUGuest1","reserve":false,"size":2147483648,"host-nodes":[1,2,3],"policy":"bind","prealloc-context":"tc-memvirtiomem1"}' \
+-object '{"qom-type":"memory-backend-file","id":"memvirtiomem1","mem-path":"/dev/hugepages2M/libvirt/qemu/-1-QEMUGuest1","reserve":false,"size":2147483648,"host-nodes":[1,2,3],"policy":"bind"}' \
 -device '{"driver":"virtio-mem-pci","node":0,"block-size":2097152,"requested-size":1073741824,"memdev":"memvirtiomem1","prealloc":true,"id":"virtiomem1","bus":"pci.1","addr":"0x1"}' \
 -blockdev '{"driver":"host_device","filename":"/dev/HostVG/QEMUGuest1","node-name":"libvirt-1-storage","auto-read-only":true,"discard":"unmap"}' \
 -blockdev '{"node-name":"libvirt-1-format","read-only":false,"driver":"raw","file":"libvirt-1-storage"}' \
diff --git a/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/numatune-memnode.x86_64-latest.args b/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/numatune-memnode.x86_64-latest.args
index f4ef91006f..7cb7e659a4 100644
--- a/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/numatune-memnode.x86_64-latest.args
+++ b/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/numatune-memnode.x86_64-latest.args
@@ -16,14 +16,11 @@ XDG_CONFIG_HOME=/tmp/lib/domain--1-QEMUGuest/.config \
 -m 24105 \
 -overcommit mem-lock=off \
 -smp 32,sockets=32,cores=1,threads=1 \
--object '{"qom-type":"thread-context","id":"tc-ram-node0","node-affinity":[3]}' \
--object '{"qom-type":"memory-backend-ram","id":"ram-node0","size":20971520,"host-nodes":[3],"policy":"preferred","prealloc-context":"tc-ram-node0"}' \
+-object '{"qom-type":"memory-backend-ram","id":"ram-node0","size":20971520,"host-nodes":[3],"policy":"preferred"}' \
 -numa node,nodeid=0,cpus=0,memdev=ram-node0 \
--object '{"qom-type":"thread-context","id":"tc-ram-node1","node-affinity":[0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7]}' \
--object '{"qom-type":"memory-backend-ram","id":"ram-node1","size":676331520,"host-nodes":[0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7],"policy":"bind","prealloc-context":"tc-ram-node1"}' \
+-object '{"qom-type":"memory-backend-ram","id":"ram-node1","size":676331520,"host-nodes":[0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7],"policy":"bind"}' \
 -numa node,nodeid=1,cpus=1-27,cpus=29,memdev=ram-node1 \
--object '{"qom-type":"thread-context","id":"tc-ram-node2","node-affinity":[1,2,5,7]}' \
--object '{"qom-type":"memory-backend-ram","id":"ram-node2","size":24578621440,"host-nodes":[1,2,5,7],"policy":"bind","prealloc-context":"tc-ram-node2"}' \
+-object '{"qom-type":"memory-backend-ram","id":"ram-node2","size":24578621440,"host-nodes":[1,2,5,7],"policy":"bind"}' \
 -numa node,nodeid=2,cpus=28,cpus=30-31,memdev=ram-node2 \
 -uuid 9f4b6512-e73a-4a25-93e8-5307802821ce \
 -display none \
diff --git a/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/numatune-system-memory.x86_64-latest.args b/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/numatune-system-memory.x86_64-latest.args
index 125dc43153..fd93abe3eb 100644
--- a/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/numatune-system-memory.x86_64-latest.args
+++ b/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/numatune-system-memory.x86_64-latest.args
@@ -14,8 +14,7 @@ XDG_CONFIG_HOME=/tmp/lib/domain--1-QEMUGuest1/.config \
 -accel tcg \
 -cpu qemu64 \
 -m 214 \
--object '{"qom-type":"thread-context","id":"tc-pc.ram","node-affinity":[0]}' \
--object '{"qom-type":"memory-backend-ram","id":"pc.ram","size":224395264,"host-nodes":[0],"policy":"bind","prealloc-context":"tc-pc.ram"}' \
+-object '{"qom-type":"memory-backend-ram","id":"pc.ram","size":224395264,"host-nodes":[0],"policy":"bind"}' \
 -overcommit mem-lock=off \
 -smp 2,sockets=2,cores=1,threads=1 \
 -uuid c7a5fdbd-edaf-9455-926a-d65c16db1809 \