diff --git a/src/libxl/libxl_conf.c b/src/libxl/libxl_conf.c
index 4c62e7332dc69d4894431c1b0a9e605e929f00a2..de6f7ce5ad7d6abdc5bf9fea21e7c504fa9f1dc9 100644
--- a/src/libxl/libxl_conf.c
+++ b/src/libxl/libxl_conf.c
@@ -1108,6 +1108,14 @@ libxlDriverConfigNew(void)
     if (virAsprintf(&log_file, "%s/libxl-driver.log", cfg->logDir) < 0)
         goto error;
 
+    if (virFileMakePath(cfg->logDir) < 0) {
+        virReportError(VIR_ERR_INTERNAL_ERROR,
+                       _("failed to create log dir '%s': %s"),
+                       cfg->logDir,
+                       virStrerror(errno, ebuf, sizeof(ebuf)));
+        goto error;
+    }
+
     if ((cfg->logger_file = fopen(log_file, "a")) == NULL)  {
         VIR_ERROR(_("Failed to create log file '%s': %s"),
                   log_file, virStrerror(errno, ebuf, sizeof(ebuf)));
diff --git a/src/libxl/libxl_driver.c b/src/libxl/libxl_driver.c
index b44d7719e23ad5b954f5223f325f666c0d72e958..fc97db4a487b206314e7bb6a406d47504b5e55a2 100644
--- a/src/libxl/libxl_driver.c
+++ b/src/libxl/libxl_driver.c
@@ -306,13 +306,6 @@ libxlStateInitialize(bool privileged,
         goto error;
 
     libxl_driver->config = cfg;
-    if (virFileMakePath(cfg->logDir) < 0) {
-        virReportError(VIR_ERR_INTERNAL_ERROR,
-                       _("failed to create log dir '%s': %s"),
-                       cfg->logDir,
-                       virStrerror(errno, ebuf, sizeof(ebuf)));
-        goto error;
-    }
     if (virFileMakePath(cfg->stateDir) < 0) {
         virReportError(VIR_ERR_INTERNAL_ERROR,
                        _("failed to create state dir '%s': %s"),