diff --git a/src/conf/domain_conf.c b/src/conf/domain_conf.c
index ba70e0292dcf90b90bbf8156a2e1efa964210571..ccb3b635d0ec50201b21feae61153dc16bac61ca 100644
--- a/src/conf/domain_conf.c
+++ b/src/conf/domain_conf.c
@@ -9576,8 +9576,8 @@ static virDomainDefPtr virDomainDefParseXML(virCapsPtr caps,
 
     tmp = virXPathString("string(./os/type[1]/@arch)", ctxt);
     if (tmp) {
-        virArch arch = virArchFromString(tmp);
-        if (!arch) {
+        def->os.arch = virArchFromString(tmp);
+        if (!def->os.arch) {
             virReportError(VIR_ERR_CONFIG_UNSUPPORTED,
                            _("Unknown architecture %s"),
                            tmp);