diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_capabilities.c b/src/qemu/qemu_capabilities.c
index b5eb8cf46a..17eb6579bf 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_capabilities.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_capabilities.c
@@ -5343,7 +5343,7 @@ virQEMUCapsNewData(const char *binary,
                                            priv->libDir,
                                            priv->runUid,
                                            priv->runGid,
-                                           priv->microcodeVersion,
+                                           virHostCPUGetMicrocodeVersion(),
                                            priv->kernelVersion,
                                            false);
 }
@@ -5427,8 +5427,7 @@ virFileCachePtr
 virQEMUCapsCacheNew(const char *libDir,
                     const char *cacheDir,
                     uid_t runUid,
-                    gid_t runGid,
-                    unsigned int microcodeVersion)
+                    gid_t runGid)
 {
     char *capsCacheDir = NULL;
     virFileCachePtr cache = NULL;
@@ -5452,7 +5451,6 @@ virQEMUCapsCacheNew(const char *libDir,
 
     priv->runUid = runUid;
     priv->runGid = runGid;
-    priv->microcodeVersion = microcodeVersion;
 
     if (uname(&uts) == 0 &&
         virAsprintf(&priv->kernelVersion, "%s %s", uts.release, uts.version) < 0)
@@ -5473,8 +5471,11 @@ virQEMUCapsPtr
 virQEMUCapsCacheLookup(virFileCachePtr cache,
                        const char *binary)
 {
+    virQEMUCapsCachePrivPtr priv = virFileCacheGetPriv(cache);
     virQEMUCapsPtr ret = NULL;
 
+    priv->microcodeVersion = virHostCPUGetMicrocodeVersion();
+
     ret = virFileCacheLookup(cache, binary);
 
     VIR_DEBUG("Returning caps %p for %s", ret, binary);
@@ -5520,10 +5521,13 @@ virQEMUCapsPtr
 virQEMUCapsCacheLookupByArch(virFileCachePtr cache,
                              virArch arch)
 {
+    virQEMUCapsCachePrivPtr priv = virFileCacheGetPriv(cache);
     virQEMUCapsPtr ret = NULL;
     virArch target;
     struct virQEMUCapsSearchData data = { .arch = arch };
 
+    priv->microcodeVersion = virHostCPUGetMicrocodeVersion();
+
     ret = virFileCacheLookupByFunc(cache, virQEMUCapsCompareArch, &data);
     if (!ret) {
         /* If the first attempt at finding capabilities has failed, try
diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_capabilities.h b/src/qemu/qemu_capabilities.h
index c2ec2be193..7fd51f5fa0 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_capabilities.h
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_capabilities.h
@@ -524,8 +524,7 @@ void virQEMUCapsFilterByMachineType(virQEMUCapsPtr qemuCaps,
 virFileCachePtr virQEMUCapsCacheNew(const char *libDir,
                                     const char *cacheDir,
                                     uid_t uid,
-                                    gid_t gid,
-                                    unsigned int microcodeVersion);
+                                    gid_t gid);
 virQEMUCapsPtr virQEMUCapsCacheLookup(virFileCachePtr cache,
                                       const char *binary);
 virQEMUCapsPtr virQEMUCapsCacheLookupCopy(virFileCachePtr cache,
diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_driver.c b/src/qemu/qemu_driver.c
index 96454c17c0..bb38904090 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_driver.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_driver.c
@@ -610,8 +610,6 @@ qemuStateInitialize(bool privileged,
     char *hugepagePath = NULL;
     char *memoryBackingPath = NULL;
     size_t i;
-    virCPUDefPtr hostCPU = NULL;
-    unsigned int microcodeVersion = 0;
 
     if (VIR_ALLOC(qemu_driver) < 0)
         return -1;
@@ -831,15 +829,10 @@ qemuStateInitialize(bool privileged,
         run_gid = cfg->group;
     }
 
-    if ((hostCPU = virCPUProbeHost(virArchFromHost())))
-        microcodeVersion = hostCPU->microcodeVersion;
-    virCPUDefFree(hostCPU);
-
     qemu_driver->qemuCapsCache = virQEMUCapsCacheNew(cfg->libDir,
                                                      cfg->cacheDir,
                                                      run_uid,
-                                                     run_gid,
-                                                     microcodeVersion);
+                                                     run_gid);
     if (!qemu_driver->qemuCapsCache)
         goto error;
 
diff --git a/tests/testutilsqemu.c b/tests/testutilsqemu.c
index f8182033fc..2c7124bf26 100644
--- a/tests/testutilsqemu.c
+++ b/tests/testutilsqemu.c
@@ -603,7 +603,7 @@ int qemuTestDriverInit(virQEMUDriver *driver)
 
     /* Using /dev/null for libDir and cacheDir automatically produces errors
      * upon attempt to use any of them */
-    driver->qemuCapsCache = virQEMUCapsCacheNew("/dev/null", "/dev/null", 0, 0, 0);
+    driver->qemuCapsCache = virQEMUCapsCacheNew("/dev/null", "/dev/null", 0, 0);
     if (!driver->qemuCapsCache)
         goto error;