diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_driver.c b/src/qemu/qemu_driver.c
index de53a1babcf2919f705a4f669c63cc5002fd7a05..c3a8f24edf9f6842cee06438339bf79e0094e0af 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_driver.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_driver.c
@@ -1122,9 +1122,11 @@ kvmGetMaxVCPUs(void) {
         return -1;
     }
 
+#ifdef KVM_CAP_MAX_VCPUS
     /* at first try KVM_CAP_MAX_VCPUS to determine the maximum count */
     if ((ret = ioctl(fd, KVM_CHECK_EXTENSION, KVM_CAP_MAX_VCPUS)) > 0)
         goto cleanup;
+#endif /* KVM_CAP_MAX_VCPUS */
 
     /* as a fallback get KVM_CAP_NR_VCPUS (the recommended maximum number of
      * vcpus). Note that on most machines this is set to 160. */