diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_capabilities.c b/src/qemu/qemu_capabilities.c
index 4a540eec9e73d6f77aacb6da1b0962bb800db3e3..e8614151d88ff2fd445942fa0a4645c48bde01aa 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_capabilities.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_capabilities.c
@@ -2108,6 +2108,7 @@ int virQEMUCapsGetMachineTypesCaps(virQEMUCapsPtr qemuCaps,
         virCapsGuestMachinePtr mach;
         if (VIR_ALLOC(mach) < 0)
             goto error;
+        (*machines)[i] = mach;
         if (qemuCaps->machineAliases[i]) {
             if (VIR_STRDUP(mach->name, qemuCaps->machineAliases[i]) < 0 ||
                 VIR_STRDUP(mach->canonical, qemuCaps->machineTypes[i]) < 0)
@@ -2117,7 +2118,6 @@ int virQEMUCapsGetMachineTypesCaps(virQEMUCapsPtr qemuCaps,
                 goto error;
         }
         mach->maxCpus = qemuCaps->machineMaxCpus[i];
-        (*machines)[i] = mach;
     }
 
     return 0;