diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c b/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c
index 89a52ab1b7..54e63878fa 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c
@@ -2832,6 +2832,16 @@ qemuDomainDefValidate(const virDomainDef *def,
         }
     }
 
+    /* Memory locking can only work properly if the memory locking limit
+     * for the QEMU process has been raised appropriately: the default one
+     * is extrememly low, so there's no way the guest will fit in there */
+    if (def->mem.locked && !virMemoryLimitIsSet(def->mem.hard_limit)) {
+        virReportError(VIR_ERR_CONFIG_UNSUPPORTED, "%s",
+                       _("Setting <memoryBacking><locked> requires "
+                         "<memtune><hard_limit> to be set as well"));
+        goto cleanup;
+    }
+
     if (qemuDomainDefValidateVideo(def) < 0)
         goto cleanup;
 
diff --git a/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/qemuxml2argv-mlock-on.xml b/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/qemuxml2argv-mlock-on.xml
index 20a5eaa71f..2046663743 100644
--- a/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/qemuxml2argv-mlock-on.xml
+++ b/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/qemuxml2argv-mlock-on.xml
@@ -3,6 +3,9 @@
   <uuid>c7a5fdbd-edaf-9455-926a-d65c16db1809</uuid>
   <memory unit='KiB'>219136</memory>
   <currentMemory unit='KiB'>219136</currentMemory>
+  <memtune>
+    <hard_limit unit='KiB'>256000</hard_limit>
+  </memtune>
   <memoryBacking>
     <locked/>
   </memoryBacking>