diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_interface.c b/src/qemu/qemu_interface.c
index ad1755dd6a4868e236da69f3683c9644ed92a75a..b82a62f7d327b22847406feabb4559b7b6851899 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_interface.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_interface.c
@@ -428,36 +428,53 @@ qemuInterfaceEthernetConnect(virDomainDefPtr def,
     if (virDomainNetIsVirtioModel(net))
         tap_create_flags |= VIR_NETDEV_TAP_CREATE_VNET_HDR;
 
-    if (!net->ifname ||
-        STRPREFIX(net->ifname, VIR_NET_GENERATED_TAP_PREFIX) ||
-        strchr(net->ifname, '%')) {
-        VIR_FREE(net->ifname);
-        if (VIR_STRDUP(net->ifname, VIR_NET_GENERATED_TAP_PREFIX "%d") < 0)
+    if (net->managed_tap == VIR_TRISTATE_BOOL_NO) {
+        if (!net->ifname) {
+            virReportError(VIR_ERR_INTERNAL_ERROR, "%s",
+                           _("target dev must be supplied when managed='no'"));
             goto cleanup;
-        /* avoid exposing vnet%d in getXMLDesc or error outputs */
-        template_ifname = true;
-    }
-    if (virNetDevTapCreate(&net->ifname, tunpath, tapfd, tapfdSize,
-                           tap_create_flags) < 0) {
-        goto cleanup;
-    }
+        }
+        if (virNetDevExists(net->ifname) != 1) {
+            virReportError(VIR_ERR_INTERNAL_ERROR, "%s",
+                           _("target managed='no' but specified dev doesn't exist"));
+            goto cleanup;
+        }
+        if (virNetDevTapCreate(&net->ifname, tunpath, tapfd, tapfdSize,
+                               tap_create_flags) < 0) {
+            goto cleanup;
+        }
+    } else {
+        if (!net->ifname ||
+            STRPREFIX(net->ifname, VIR_NET_GENERATED_TAP_PREFIX) ||
+            strchr(net->ifname, '%')) {
+            VIR_FREE(net->ifname);
+            if (VIR_STRDUP(net->ifname, VIR_NET_GENERATED_TAP_PREFIX "%d") < 0)
+                goto cleanup;
+            /* avoid exposing vnet%d in getXMLDesc or error outputs */
+            template_ifname = true;
+        }
+        if (virNetDevTapCreate(&net->ifname, tunpath, tapfd, tapfdSize,
+                               tap_create_flags) < 0) {
+            goto cleanup;
+        }
 
-    /* The tap device's MAC address cannot match the MAC address
-     * used by the guest. This results in "received packet on
-     * vnetX with own address as source address" error logs from
-     * the kernel.
-     */
-    virMacAddrSet(&tapmac, &net->mac);
-    if (tapmac.addr[0] == 0xFE)
-        tapmac.addr[0] = 0xFA;
-    else
-        tapmac.addr[0] = 0xFE;
+        /* The tap device's MAC address cannot match the MAC address
+         * used by the guest. This results in "received packet on
+         * vnetX with own address as source address" error logs from
+         * the kernel.
+         */
+        virMacAddrSet(&tapmac, &net->mac);
+        if (tapmac.addr[0] == 0xFE)
+            tapmac.addr[0] = 0xFA;
+        else
+            tapmac.addr[0] = 0xFE;
 
-    if (virNetDevSetMAC(net->ifname, &tapmac) < 0)
-        goto cleanup;
+        if (virNetDevSetMAC(net->ifname, &tapmac) < 0)
+            goto cleanup;
 
-    if (virNetDevSetOnline(net->ifname, true) < 0)
-        goto cleanup;
+        if (virNetDevSetOnline(net->ifname, true) < 0)
+            goto cleanup;
+    }
 
     if (net->script &&
         virNetDevRunEthernetScript(net->ifname, net->script) < 0)
diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_process.c b/src/qemu/qemu_process.c
index 6a261786f976cd7f4690ca1cf7871a0037f5a9a5..955ba4de4ce2035669feb9c1688a241ef68b9152 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_process.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_process.c
@@ -7559,7 +7559,7 @@ void qemuProcessStop(virQEMUDriverPtr driver,
                              cfg->stateDir));
             break;
         case VIR_DOMAIN_NET_TYPE_ETHERNET:
-            if (net->ifname) {
+            if (net->managed_tap != VIR_TRISTATE_BOOL_NO && net->ifname) {
                 ignore_value(virNetDevTapDelete(net->ifname, net->backend.tap));
                 VIR_FREE(net->ifname);
             }
diff --git a/src/util/virnetdev.h b/src/util/virnetdev.h
index 563b218227aeb72332fbe44b40fc40eb4589841e..6ff98487cb8cd50e3c299009a97d9430a574f7ad 100644
--- a/src/util/virnetdev.h
+++ b/src/util/virnetdev.h
@@ -150,7 +150,7 @@ int virNetDevSetupControl(const char *ifname,
     ATTRIBUTE_RETURN_CHECK;
 
 int virNetDevExists(const char *brname)
-    ATTRIBUTE_NONNULL(1) ATTRIBUTE_RETURN_CHECK;
+    ATTRIBUTE_NONNULL(1) ATTRIBUTE_RETURN_CHECK ATTRIBUTE_NOINLINE;
 
 int virNetDevSetOnline(const char *ifname,
                        bool online)
diff --git a/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/net-eth-unmanaged-tap.args b/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/net-eth-unmanaged-tap.args
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..2bb99e96da66828e37e3e485e18e9bd4d3c5bf67
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/net-eth-unmanaged-tap.args
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+LC_ALL=C \
+PATH=/bin \
+HOME=/tmp/lib/domain--1-QEMUGuest1 \
+USER=test \
+LOGNAME=test \
+XDG_DATA_HOME=/tmp/lib/domain--1-QEMUGuest1/.local/share \
+XDG_CACHE_HOME=/tmp/lib/domain--1-QEMUGuest1/.cache \
+XDG_CONFIG_HOME=/tmp/lib/domain--1-QEMUGuest1/.config \
+QEMU_AUDIO_DRV=none \
+/usr/bin/qemu-system-i686 \
+-name QEMUGuest1 \
+-S \
+-machine pc,accel=tcg,usb=off,dump-guest-core=off \
+-m 214 \
+-realtime mlock=off \
+-smp 1,sockets=1,cores=1,threads=1 \
+-uuid c7a5fdbd-edaf-9455-926a-d65c16db1809 \
+-display none \
+-no-user-config \
+-nodefaults \
+-chardev socket,id=charmonitor,path=/tmp/lib/domain--1-QEMUGuest1/monitor.sock,\
+server,nowait \
+-mon chardev=charmonitor,id=monitor,mode=control \
+-rtc base=utc \
+-no-shutdown \
+-no-acpi \
+-usb \
+-drive file=/dev/HostVG/QEMUGuest1,format=raw,if=none,id=drive-ide0-0-0 \
+-device ide-hd,bus=ide.0,unit=0,drive=drive-ide0-0-0,id=ide0-0-0,bootindex=1 \
+-netdev tap,fd=3,id=hostnet0,vhost=on,vhostfd=44 \
+-device virtio-net-pci,netdev=hostnet0,id=net0,mac=fe:11:22:33:44:55,bus=pci.0,\
+addr=0x3
diff --git a/tests/qemuxml2argvmock.c b/tests/qemuxml2argvmock.c
index 3f0c1c3fef894a5fd0073540f3ce48cee852645a..a386dd17be6bfec907f65f4b4f1d36c62909ec9c 100644
--- a/tests/qemuxml2argvmock.c
+++ b/tests/qemuxml2argvmock.c
@@ -149,8 +149,12 @@ virNetDevTapCreate(char **ifname,
     for (i = 0; i < tapfdSize; i++)
         tapfd[i] = STDERR_FILENO + 1 + i;
 
-    VIR_FREE(*ifname);
-    return VIR_STRDUP(*ifname, "vnet0");
+    if (STREQ_NULLABLE(*ifname, "mytap0")) {
+        return 0;
+    } else {
+        VIR_FREE(*ifname);
+        return VIR_STRDUP(*ifname, "vnet0");
+    }
 }
 
 int
@@ -160,6 +164,14 @@ virNetDevSetMAC(const char *ifname ATTRIBUTE_UNUSED,
     return 0;
 }
 
+
+int
+virNetDevExists(const char *ifname)
+{
+    return STREQ_NULLABLE(ifname, "mytap0");
+}
+
+
 int virNetDevIPAddrAdd(const char *ifname ATTRIBUTE_UNUSED,
                        virSocketAddr *addr ATTRIBUTE_UNUSED,
                        virSocketAddr *peer ATTRIBUTE_UNUSED,
diff --git a/tests/qemuxml2argvtest.c b/tests/qemuxml2argvtest.c
index 5af74ef9be30e33142411af4505b9a620dbf6806..1f2ae5958a3355d01b58bc9991cceb1820bc0d45 100644
--- a/tests/qemuxml2argvtest.c
+++ b/tests/qemuxml2argvtest.c
@@ -1318,6 +1318,7 @@ mymain(void)
     DO_TEST("net-eth-ifname", NONE);
     DO_TEST("net-eth-names", NONE);
     DO_TEST("net-eth-hostip", NONE);
+    DO_TEST("net-eth-unmanaged-tap", NONE);
     DO_TEST("net-client", NONE);
     DO_TEST("net-server", NONE);
     DO_TEST("net-many-models", NONE);