diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_command.c b/src/qemu/qemu_command.c
index e7a3c4289e8233e74d897d1fd621e9c273817992..d1f5c3642309ecfdccf058a8460733a669181c59 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_command.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_command.c
@@ -8879,28 +8879,6 @@ qemuBuildShmemDevStr(virDomainDefPtr def,
     return virBufferContentAndReset(&buf);
 }
 
-static char *
-qemuBuildShmemBackendChrStr(virLogManagerPtr logManager,
-                            virCommandPtr cmd,
-                            virQEMUDriverConfigPtr cfg,
-                            virDomainDefPtr def,
-                            virDomainShmemDefPtr shmem,
-                            virQEMUCapsPtr qemuCaps,
-                            bool chardevStdioLogd)
-{
-    char *devstr = NULL;
-
-    if (qemuDomainPrepareShmemChardev(shmem) < 0)
-        return NULL;
-
-    devstr = qemuBuildChrChardevStr(logManager, cmd, cfg, def,
-                                    &shmem->server.chr,
-                                    shmem->info.alias, qemuCaps, true,
-                                    chardevStdioLogd);
-
-    return devstr;
-}
-
 
 virJSONValuePtr
 qemuBuildShmemBackendMemProps(virDomainShmemDefPtr shmem)
@@ -9010,9 +8988,11 @@ qemuBuildShmemCommandLine(virLogManagerPtr logManager,
     VIR_FREE(devstr);
 
     if (shmem->server.enabled) {
-        if (!(devstr = qemuBuildShmemBackendChrStr(logManager, cmd, cfg, def,
-                                                   shmem, qemuCaps,
-                                                   chardevStdioLogd)))
+        devstr = qemuBuildChrChardevStr(logManager, cmd, cfg, def,
+                                        &shmem->server.chr,
+                                        shmem->info.alias, qemuCaps, true,
+                                        chardevStdioLogd);
+        if (!devstr)
             return -1;
 
         virCommandAddArgList(cmd, "-chardev", devstr, NULL);
diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_process.c b/src/qemu/qemu_process.c
index a11d75b80fb018da777fa013a1c5c0762568ac19..0aecce3b1fea306ae3e2b5560fc7f55dcb7ce176 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_process.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_process.c
@@ -5325,6 +5325,11 @@ qemuProcessPrepareDomain(virConnectPtr conn,
     if (qemuProcessUpdateGuestCPU(vm->def, priv->qemuCaps, caps, flags) < 0)
         goto cleanup;
 
+    for (i = 0; i < vm->def->nshmems; i++) {
+        if (qemuDomainPrepareShmemChardev(vm->def->shmems[i]) < 0)
+            goto cleanup;
+    }
+
     ret = 0;
  cleanup:
     virObjectUnref(caps);