diff --git a/src/bhyve/bhyve_domain.c b/src/bhyve/bhyve_domain.c
index 20c82937b5eb973b2f7a06c952fa8950c16ef898..71764554eb11c4443faf689dfb9baf99ce229910 100644
--- a/src/bhyve/bhyve_domain.c
+++ b/src/bhyve/bhyve_domain.c
@@ -122,6 +122,21 @@ bhyveDomainDeviceDefPostParse(virDomainDeviceDefPtr dev,
             bhyveDomainDiskDefAssignAddress(driver, disk, def) < 0)
             return -1;
     }
+
+    if (dev->type == VIR_DOMAIN_DEVICE_CONTROLLER) {
+        virDomainControllerDefPtr cont = dev->data.controller;
+
+        if (cont->type == VIR_DOMAIN_CONTROLLER_TYPE_PCI &&
+            (cont->model == VIR_DOMAIN_CONTROLLER_MODEL_PCI_ROOT ||
+             cont->model == VIR_DOMAIN_CONTROLLER_MODEL_PCIE_ROOT) &&
+            cont->idx != 0) {
+            virReportError(VIR_ERR_XML_ERROR, "%s",
+                           _("pci-root and pcie-root controllers "
+                             "should have index 0"));
+            return -1;
+        }
+    }
+
     return 0;
 }
 
diff --git a/src/conf/domain_conf.c b/src/conf/domain_conf.c
index b87fc869a6bcbd68464ef131ee4727e7efd6c86d..90d5cc036207475e2ac6ea14d8bffeb012949562 100644
--- a/src/conf/domain_conf.c
+++ b/src/conf/domain_conf.c
@@ -9302,12 +9302,6 @@ virDomainControllerDefParseXML(xmlNodePtr node,
                                  "have an address"));
                 goto error;
             }
-            if (def->idx > 0) {
-                virReportError(VIR_ERR_XML_ERROR, "%s",
-                               _("pci-root and pcie-root controllers "
-                                 "should have index 0"));
-                goto error;
-            }
             if ((rc = virDomainParseScaledValue("./pcihole64", NULL,
                                                 ctxt, &bytes, 1024,
                                                 1024ULL * ULONG_MAX, false)) < 0)
diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c b/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c
index 78e75f130a1f3434c2c47d579a6052ac3715addd..bf6c6701430ab8bdba3e434ad1d93715e8cc9157 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c
@@ -3426,6 +3426,15 @@ qemuDomainControllerDefPostParse(virDomainControllerDefPtr cont,
         break;
 
     case VIR_DOMAIN_CONTROLLER_TYPE_PCI:
+        if  ((cont->model == VIR_DOMAIN_CONTROLLER_MODEL_PCI_ROOT ||
+              cont->model == VIR_DOMAIN_CONTROLLER_MODEL_PCIE_ROOT) &&
+             cont->idx != 0) {
+            virReportError(VIR_ERR_XML_ERROR, "%s",
+                           _("pci-root and pcie-root controllers "
+                             "should have index 0"));
+            return -1;
+        }
+
         if (cont->model == VIR_DOMAIN_CONTROLLER_MODEL_PCI_EXPANDER_BUS &&
             !qemuDomainIsI440FX(def)) {
             virReportError(VIR_ERR_CONFIG_UNSUPPORTED, "%s",