diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_command.c b/src/qemu/qemu_command.c
index 12a9d47f44..a56f324af2 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_command.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_command.c
@@ -7120,16 +7120,8 @@ qemuBuildMachineCommandLine(virCommandPtr cmd,
                           cfg->dumpGuestCore ? "on" : "off");
     }
 
-    if (def->mem.nosharepages) {
-        if (!virQEMUCapsGet(qemuCaps, QEMU_CAPS_MEM_MERGE)) {
-            virReportError(VIR_ERR_CONFIG_UNSUPPORTED, "%s",
-                           _("disable shared memory is not available "
-                             "with this QEMU binary"));
-            return -1;
-        }
-
+    if (def->mem.nosharepages)
         virBufferAddLit(&buf, ",mem-merge=off");
-    }
 
     if (def->keywrap &&
         !qemuAppendKeyWrapMachineParms(&buf, qemuCaps, def->keywrap))
diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c b/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c
index 328ce183b9..4bce3219e2 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c
@@ -5180,6 +5180,13 @@ qemuDomainDefValidateMemory(const virDomainDef *def,
         return -1;
     }
 
+    if (mem->nosharepages && !virQEMUCapsGet(qemuCaps, QEMU_CAPS_MEM_MERGE)) {
+         virReportError(VIR_ERR_CONFIG_UNSUPPORTED, "%s",
+                        _("disable shared memory is not available "
+                          "with this QEMU binary"));
+        return -1;
+    }
+
     return 0;
 }