diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_command.c b/src/qemu/qemu_command.c
index 4628dac73e3f3cc6e963ba4643273476b57976dc..e6239c993cd6c084a5ff13f9815f8635a33e8e98 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_command.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_command.c
@@ -4383,18 +4383,15 @@ qemuBuildDriveDevStr(virDomainDefPtr def,
         if (qemuDomainMachineIsQ35(def) &&
             disk->info.addr.drive.controller == 0) {
             /* Q35 machines have an implicit ahci (sata) controller at
-             * 00:1F.2 which has no "id" associated with it. For this
-             * reason, we can't refer to it as "ahci0". Instead, we
-             * don't give an id, which qemu interprets as "use the
-             * first ahci controller". We then need to specify the
-             * unit with "unit=%d" rather than adding it onto the bus
-             * arg.
+             * 00:1F.2 which for some reason is hardcoded with the id
+             * "ide" instead of the seemingly more reasonable "ahci0"
+             * or "sata0".
              */
-            virBufferAsprintf(&opt, ",unit=%d", disk->info.addr.drive.unit);
+            virBufferAsprintf(&opt, ",bus=ide.%d", disk->info.addr.drive.unit);
         } else {
             /* All other ahci controllers have been created by
-             * libvirt, so they *do* have an id, and we can identify
-             * them that way.
+             * libvirt, and we gave them the id "ahci${n}" where ${n}
+             * is the controller number. So we identify them that way.
              */
             virBufferAsprintf(&opt, ",bus=ahci%d.%d",
                               disk->info.addr.drive.controller,
diff --git a/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/qemuxml2argv-pcihole64-q35.args b/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/qemuxml2argv-pcihole64-q35.args
index e10ccb197570f967c233ded7fa085e9fc2a4ad9b..175c0dcf00c6d585cc13b8ef6aa70ab23e586f3c 100644
--- a/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/qemuxml2argv-pcihole64-q35.args
+++ b/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/qemuxml2argv-pcihole64-q35.args
@@ -5,5 +5,5 @@ LC_ALL=C PATH=/bin HOME=/home/test USER=test LOGNAME=test QEMU_AUDIO_DRV=none \
 -device i82801b11-bridge,id=pci.1,bus=pcie.0,addr=0x2 \
 -device pci-bridge,chassis_nr=2,id=pci.2,bus=pci.1,addr=0x1 \
 -drive file=/dev/HostVG/QEMUGuest1,if=none,id=drive-sata0-0-0 \
--device ide-drive,unit=0,drive=drive-sata0-0-0,id=sata0-0-0 \
+-device ide-drive,bus=ide.0,drive=drive-sata0-0-0,id=sata0-0-0 \
 -vga qxl -global qxl.ram_size=67108864 -global qxl.vram_size=18874368
diff --git a/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/qemuxml2argv-q35.args b/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/qemuxml2argv-q35.args
index 4461eba1b84624b0aea599e82c82365d1dee2fd0..6bd5f4c0c2aca70e6ba0f1e27e7d85028fda6331 100644
--- a/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/qemuxml2argv-q35.args
+++ b/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/qemuxml2argv-q35.args
@@ -4,5 +4,5 @@ LC_ALL=C PATH=/bin HOME=/home/test USER=test LOGNAME=test QEMU_AUDIO_DRV=none \
 -device i82801b11-bridge,id=pci.1,bus=pcie.0,addr=0x2 \
 -device pci-bridge,chassis_nr=2,id=pci.2,bus=pci.1,addr=0x1 \
 -drive file=/dev/HostVG/QEMUGuest1,if=none,id=drive-sata0-0-0 \
--device ide-drive,unit=0,drive=drive-sata0-0-0,id=sata0-0-0 \
+-device ide-drive,bus=ide.0,drive=drive-sata0-0-0,id=sata0-0-0 \
 -vga qxl -global qxl.ram_size=67108864 -global qxl.vram_size=18874368