diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_process.c b/src/qemu/qemu_process.c
index b1751d4b52743481c08f29e93ab432d00cdd5b66..dee3f3fb638ac5ae1d0e51715bf3f2aba38a981d 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_process.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_process.c
@@ -5488,7 +5488,6 @@ qemuProcessPrepareQEMUCaps(virDomainObjPtr vm,
                            unsigned int processStartFlags)
 {
     qemuDomainObjPrivatePtr priv = vm->privateData;
-    size_t i;
 
     virObjectUnref(priv->qemuCaps);
     if (!(priv->qemuCaps = virQEMUCapsCacheLookupCopy(qemuCapsCache,
@@ -5497,14 +5496,6 @@ qemuProcessPrepareQEMUCaps(virDomainObjPtr vm,
                                                       vm->def->os.machine)))
         return -1;
 
-    /* clear the 'blockdev' capability for VMs which have disks that need -drive */
-    for (i = 0; i < vm->def->ndisks; i++) {
-        if (qemuDiskBusIsSD(vm->def->disks[i]->bus)) {
-            virQEMUCapsClear(priv->qemuCaps, QEMU_CAPS_BLOCKDEV);
-            break;
-        }
-    }
-
     if (processStartFlags & VIR_QEMU_PROCESS_START_STANDALONE)
         virQEMUCapsClear(priv->qemuCaps, QEMU_CAPS_CHARDEV_FD_PASS);
 
diff --git a/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/disk-arm-virtio-sd.aarch64-latest.args b/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/disk-arm-virtio-sd.aarch64-latest.args
index 7147dfee76f18180b7e3340e83dc8a1a3e197241..f17dd2157a666c970e7ab1c56fc435c3ee85d115 100644
--- a/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/disk-arm-virtio-sd.aarch64-latest.args
+++ b/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/disk-arm-virtio-sd.aarch64-latest.args
@@ -33,8 +33,11 @@ file=/tmp/lib/domain--1-armtest/master-key.aes \
 -dtb /arm.dtb \
 -usb \
 -drive file=/arm-sd.qcow2,format=qcow2,if=sd,index=0 \
--drive file=/arm-virtio.qcow2,format=qcow2,if=none,id=drive-virtio-disk0 \
--device virtio-blk-device,scsi=off,drive=drive-virtio-disk0,id=virtio-disk0 \
+-blockdev '{"driver":"file","filename":"/arm-virtio.qcow2",\
+"node-name":"libvirt-1-storage","auto-read-only":true,"discard":"unmap"}' \
+-blockdev '{"node-name":"libvirt-1-format","read-only":false,"driver":"qcow2",\
+"file":"libvirt-1-storage"}' \
+-device virtio-blk-device,scsi=off,drive=libvirt-1-format,id=virtio-disk0 \
 -sandbox on,obsolete=deny,elevateprivileges=deny,spawn=deny,\
 resourcecontrol=deny \
 -msg timestamp=on