diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_capabilities.c b/src/qemu/qemu_capabilities.c
index 268e32f801fcd7b4d7a84013a417caa821231932..fc502ff8e4cba1e761ab0de1aae98c8e1466a654 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_capabilities.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_capabilities.c
@@ -5634,6 +5634,11 @@ virQEMUCapsCacheLookup(virFileCachePtr cache,
     priv->microcodeVersion = virHostCPUGetMicrocodeVersion();
 
     ret = virFileCacheLookup(cache, binary);
+    if (!ret) {
+        virReportError(VIR_ERR_INTERNAL_ERROR,
+                       _("no capabilities available for %s"), binary);
+        return NULL;
+    }
 
     VIR_DEBUG("Returning caps %p for %s", ret, binary);
     return ret;
@@ -5780,6 +5785,12 @@ virQEMUCapsCacheLookupDefault(virFileCachePtr cache,
         probedbinary = virQEMUCapsGetDefaultEmulator(hostarch, arch);
         binary = probedbinary;
     }
+    if (!binary) {
+        virReportError(VIR_ERR_CONFIG_UNSUPPORTED,
+                       _("unable to find any emulator to serve '%s' architecture"),
+                       archStr);
+        return NULL;
+    }
 
     if (!(qemuCaps = virQEMUCapsCacheLookup(cache, binary)))
         return NULL;
diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c b/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c
index 8b2447482dd65bb86db589b02e0fc3dd90e33bee..4421d1f8b2af733b5e5ee8da3fb73fe0d50cfc22 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c
@@ -6131,8 +6131,10 @@ qemuDomainPostParseDataAlloc(const virDomainDef *def,
     virQEMUDriverPtr driver = opaque;
 
     if (!(*parseOpaque = virQEMUCapsCacheLookup(driver->qemuCapsCache,
-                                                def->emulator)))
+                                                def->emulator))) {
+        virResetLastError();
         return 1;
+    }
 
     return 0;
 }