diff --git a/src/conf/domain_conf.c b/src/conf/domain_conf.c
index 5b0e25d5e89824fd87cdf6a6e18bbf80a62f1f64..a04c3075db5c616b648778223cefd4692b7e829e 100644
--- a/src/conf/domain_conf.c
+++ b/src/conf/domain_conf.c
@@ -16336,7 +16336,7 @@ virDomainListPopulate(void *payload,
     /* just count the machines */
     if (!data->domains) {
         data->ndomains++;
-        return;
+        goto cleanup;
     }
 
     if (!(dom = virGetDomain(data->conn, vm->def->name, vm->def->uuid))) {