diff --git a/src/conf/cpu_conf.c b/src/conf/cpu_conf.c
index 49236186e67bf0f6f1542af1eac5594f4d034afc..0e3ce26a3d473bbe495221952c4b60bdab782ede 100644
--- a/src/conf/cpu_conf.c
+++ b/src/conf/cpu_conf.c
@@ -155,7 +155,6 @@ virCPUDefCopy(const virCPUDef *cpu)
             if (!copy->cells[i].cpumask)
                 goto error;
         }
-        copy->cells_cpus = cpu->cells_cpus;
     }
 
     return copy;
diff --git a/src/conf/cpu_conf.h b/src/conf/cpu_conf.h
index 01633840f9008343cf8938edd95c30692155319b..d2563e2b8b6aeb5bf2b70fee0bc34b7f3cd92127 100644
--- a/src/conf/cpu_conf.h
+++ b/src/conf/cpu_conf.h
@@ -117,7 +117,6 @@ struct _virCPUDef {
     virCPUFeatureDefPtr features;
     size_t ncells;
     virCellDefPtr cells;
-    unsigned int cells_cpus;
 };
 
 
diff --git a/src/conf/domain_conf.c b/src/conf/domain_conf.c
index cddbd50be8b5ae20e6eceda41ab5e98d052622de..e399a3301aa96c784bbfe25ed7e6cbc2635788ef 100644
--- a/src/conf/domain_conf.c
+++ b/src/conf/domain_conf.c
@@ -13501,7 +13501,7 @@ virDomainDefParseXML(xmlDocPtr xml,
         goto error;
 
     if (def->cpu &&
-        def->cpu->cells_cpus > def->maxvcpus) {
+        virDomainNumaGetCPUCountTotal(def->cpu) > def->maxvcpus) {
         virReportError(VIR_ERR_INTERNAL_ERROR, "%s",
                        _("Number of CPUs in <numa> exceeds the"
                          " <vcpu> count"));
diff --git a/src/conf/numa_conf.c b/src/conf/numa_conf.c
index dfd260637db14d827b4246b1541ec101f3fc4c87..d21d62e74573e9c1c5ed6fe3844854fff9610021 100644
--- a/src/conf/numa_conf.c
+++ b/src/conf/numa_conf.c
@@ -713,7 +713,7 @@ virDomainNumaDefCPUParseXML(virCPUDefPtr def,
     def->ncells = n;
 
     for (i = 0; i < n; i++) {
-        int rc, ncpus = 0;
+        int rc;
         unsigned int cur_cell = i;
 
         /* cells are in order of parsing or explicitly numbered */
@@ -748,12 +748,10 @@ virDomainNumaDefCPUParseXML(virCPUDefPtr def,
             goto cleanup;
         }
 
-        ncpus = virBitmapParse(tmp, 0, &def->cells[cur_cell].cpumask,
-                               VIR_DOMAIN_CPUMASK_LEN);
-
-        if (ncpus <= 0)
+        if (virBitmapParse(tmp, 0, &def->cells[cur_cell].cpumask,
+                           VIR_DOMAIN_CPUMASK_LEN) <= 0)
             goto cleanup;
-        def->cells_cpus += ncpus;
+
         VIR_FREE(tmp);
 
         ctxt->node = nodes[i];
@@ -819,3 +817,16 @@ virDomainNumaDefCPUFormat(virBufferPtr buf,
 
     return 0;
 }
+
+
+unsigned int
+virDomainNumaGetCPUCountTotal(virCPUDefPtr numa)
+{
+    size_t i;
+    unsigned int ret = 0;
+
+    for (i = 0; i < numa->ncells; i++)
+        ret += virBitmapCountBits(numa->cells[i].cpumask);
+
+    return ret;
+}
diff --git a/src/conf/numa_conf.h b/src/conf/numa_conf.h
index 107c83f5c4371eb4324a647c7d2407e62a1db5b0..efb1bf01e3565c1420612cba03d1fb2ee7dfa60d 100644
--- a/src/conf/numa_conf.h
+++ b/src/conf/numa_conf.h
@@ -128,4 +128,7 @@ bool virDomainNumatuneNodeSpecified(virDomainNumaPtr numatune,
 int virDomainNumaDefCPUParseXML(virCPUDefPtr def, xmlXPathContextPtr ctxt);
 int virDomainNumaDefCPUFormat(virBufferPtr buf, virCPUDefPtr def);
 
+unsigned int virDomainNumaGetCPUCountTotal(virCPUDefPtr numa);
+
+
 #endif /* __NUMA_CONF_H__ */
diff --git a/tests/testutilsqemu.c b/tests/testutilsqemu.c
index 64f709ae62aa744fec279212784fc4330a9a9d5b..4a3df8ab2237a14e62d9d1d5a337f64f7ab9c8b0 100644
--- a/tests/testutilsqemu.c
+++ b/tests/testutilsqemu.c
@@ -244,7 +244,6 @@ virCapsPtr testQemuCapsInit(void)
         host_cpu_features,      /* features */
         0,                      /* ncells */
         NULL,                   /* cells */
-        0,                      /* cells_cpus */
     };
 
     if ((caps = virCapabilitiesNew(host_cpu.arch,