diff --git a/src/util/virstring.c b/src/util/virstring.c
index b9fbdb58d9f99aac469dadb4f7c7db48ba137cd1..58abf9dd613a8e6748d717deb70ca8877add88d7 100644
--- a/src/util/virstring.c
+++ b/src/util/virstring.c
@@ -1356,7 +1356,7 @@ void virStringTrimOptionalNewline(char *str)
  */
 int
 virStringParsePort(const char *str,
-                   int *port)
+                   unsigned int *port)
 {
     unsigned int p = 0;
 
diff --git a/src/util/virstring.h b/src/util/virstring.h
index e562bf5143efef67b06d77a6a6481cb6687237f7..ff5f0148d61ab075d45fb7af977f8799f67205bc 100644
--- a/src/util/virstring.h
+++ b/src/util/virstring.h
@@ -297,7 +297,7 @@ char *virStringEncodeBase64(const uint8_t *buf, size_t buflen);
 void virStringTrimOptionalNewline(char *str);
 
 int virStringParsePort(const char *str,
-                       int *port)
+                       unsigned int *port)
     ATTRIBUTE_NONNULL(2) ATTRIBUTE_RETURN_CHECK;
 
 #endif /* __VIR_STRING_H__ */
diff --git a/src/util/viruri.h b/src/util/viruri.h
index 1e53abb0bc21c3d3d5c8f65d386c279bb8c20473..7850c38c224b0af702e5356aaa70a742f2df31fc 100644
--- a/src/util/viruri.h
+++ b/src/util/viruri.h
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ struct _virURI {
     char *scheme;       /* the URI scheme */
     char *server;       /* the server part */
     char *user;         /* the user part */
-    int port;           /* the port number */
+    unsigned int port;  /* the port number */
     char *path;         /* the path string */
     char *query;        /* the query string */
     char *fragment;     /* the fragment string */