diff --git a/src/util/virhostdev.c b/src/util/virhostdev.c
index fc0ebcb39443f1dc713550626ec91a10f446489e..a75d108f7351b4d7085555c88387824a8dd2f5b2 100644
--- a/src/util/virhostdev.c
+++ b/src/util/virhostdev.c
@@ -1873,8 +1873,11 @@ virHostdevPrepareDomainDevices(virHostdevManagerPtr mgr,
     if (!def->nhostdevs)
         return 0;
 
-    if (mgr == NULL)
+    if (!mgr) {
+        virReportError(VIR_ERR_INTERNAL_ERROR, "%s",
+                       _("no host device manager defined"));
         return -1;
+    }
 
     if (flags & VIR_HOSTDEV_SP_PCI) {
         if (virHostdevPreparePCIDevices(mgr, driver,
diff --git a/src/util/virhostdev.h b/src/util/virhostdev.h
index 43ba705b0f881b674d69483aad8f90e58e8dcc29..7ee0b43331200c3bed89ec9acf1a600b193ae486 100644
--- a/src/util/virhostdev.h
+++ b/src/util/virhostdev.h
@@ -157,7 +157,7 @@ virHostdevPrepareDomainDevices(virHostdevManagerPtr mgr,
                                const char *driver,
                                virDomainDefPtr def,
                                unsigned int flags)
-    ATTRIBUTE_NONNULL(1) ATTRIBUTE_NONNULL(2) ATTRIBUTE_NONNULL(3);
+    ATTRIBUTE_NONNULL(2) ATTRIBUTE_NONNULL(3);
 void
 virHostdevReAttachDomainDevices(virHostdevManagerPtr mgr,
                                 const char *driver,