diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_checkpoint.c b/src/qemu/qemu_checkpoint.c
index 55061bbf7653185e847e9c364cace6eae4b380d7..59b7f63fdc2582354d264620a1cdaf42a2c6d1e7 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_checkpoint.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_checkpoint.c
@@ -155,7 +155,8 @@ qemuCheckpointDiscardDiskBitmaps(virStorageSourcePtr src,
                                  const char *delbitmap,
                                  const char *parentbitmap,
                                  virJSONValuePtr actions,
-                                 const char *diskdst)
+                                 const char *diskdst,
+                                 GSList **reopenimages)
 {
     virStorageSourcePtr n = src;
 
@@ -235,6 +236,9 @@ qemuCheckpointDiscardDiskBitmaps(virStorageSourcePtr src,
                                                srcbitmap->name) < 0)
             return -1;
 
+        if (n != src)
+            *reopenimages = g_slist_prepend(*reopenimages, n);
+
         n = n->backingStore;
     }
 
@@ -250,9 +254,12 @@ qemuCheckpointDiscardBitmaps(virDomainObjPtr vm,
     qemuDomainObjPrivatePtr priv = vm->privateData;
     virQEMUDriverPtr driver = priv->driver;
     g_autoptr(virHashTable) blockNamedNodeData = NULL;
-    int rc;
+    int rc = -1;
     g_autoptr(virJSONValue) actions = NULL;
     size_t i;
+    g_autoptr(GSList) reopenimages = NULL;
+    g_autoptr(GSList) relabelimages = NULL;
+    GSList *next;
 
     if (!(actions = virJSONValueNewArray()))
         return -1;
@@ -284,16 +291,34 @@ qemuCheckpointDiscardBitmaps(virDomainObjPtr vm,
 
         if (qemuCheckpointDiscardDiskBitmaps(domdisk->src, blockNamedNodeData,
                                              chkdisk->bitmap, parentbitmap,
-                                             actions, domdisk->dst) < 0)
+                                             actions, domdisk->dst,
+                                             &reopenimages) < 0)
             return -1;
     }
 
+    /* label any non-top images for read-write access */
+    for (next = reopenimages; next; next = next->next) {
+        virStorageSourcePtr src = next->data;
+
+        if (qemuDomainStorageSourceAccessAllow(driver, vm, src, false, false) < 0)
+            goto relabel;
+
+        relabelimages = g_slist_prepend(relabelimages, src);
+    }
+
     qemuDomainObjEnterMonitor(driver, vm);
     rc = qemuMonitorTransaction(priv->mon, &actions);
-    if (qemuDomainObjExitMonitor(driver, vm) < 0 || rc < 0)
+    if (qemuDomainObjExitMonitor(driver, vm) < 0)
         return -1;
 
-    return 0;
+ relabel:
+    for (next = relabelimages; next; next = next->next) {
+        virStorageSourcePtr src = next->data;
+
+        ignore_value(qemuDomainStorageSourceAccessAllow(driver, vm, src, true, false));
+    }
+
+    return rc;
 }
 
 
diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_checkpoint.h b/src/qemu/qemu_checkpoint.h
index 976b1eed0f6d22f58836819a66166eed0344a2d5..cf1e9e46cb25093f5ab935921ef2b3f0c6e2751a 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_checkpoint.h
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_checkpoint.h
@@ -78,4 +78,5 @@ qemuCheckpointDiscardDiskBitmaps(virStorageSourcePtr src,
                                  const char *delbitmap,
                                  const char *parentbitmap,
                                  virJSONValuePtr actions,
-                                 const char *diskdst);
+                                 const char *diskdst,
+                                 GSList **reopenimages);
diff --git a/tests/qemublocktest.c b/tests/qemublocktest.c
index 8f290452062ff81c7959506eed397a61e7c95f91..f518b0e025353780ad4a34a2b2aa4fb133fde7a7 100644
--- a/tests/qemublocktest.c
+++ b/tests/qemublocktest.c
@@ -721,6 +721,9 @@ testQemuCheckpointDeleteMerge(const void *opaque)
     g_autoptr(virJSONValue) actions = NULL;
     g_autoptr(virJSONValue) nodedatajson = NULL;
     g_autoptr(virHashTable) nodedata = NULL;
+    g_autoptr(GSList) reopenimages = NULL;
+    g_auto(virBuffer) buf = VIR_BUFFER_INITIALIZER;
+    GSList *tmp;
 
     expectpath = g_strdup_printf("%s/%s%s-out.json", abs_srcdir,
                                  checkpointDeletePrefix, data->name);
@@ -742,14 +745,26 @@ testQemuCheckpointDeleteMerge(const void *opaque)
                                          data->deletebitmap,
                                          data->parentbitmap,
                                          actions,
-                                         "testdisk") < 0) {
+                                         "testdisk",
+                                         &reopenimages) < 0) {
         VIR_TEST_VERBOSE("failed to generate checkpoint delete transaction\n");
         return -1;
     }
 
-    if (!(actual = virJSONValueToString(actions, true)))
+    if (virJSONValueToBuffer(actions, &buf, true) < 0)
         return -1;
 
+    if (reopenimages) {
+        virBufferAddLit(&buf, "reopen nodes:\n");
+
+        for (tmp = reopenimages; tmp; tmp = tmp->next) {
+            virStorageSourcePtr src = tmp->data;
+            virBufferAsprintf(&buf, "%s\n", src->nodeformat);
+        }
+    }
+
+    actual = virBufferContentAndReset(&buf);
+
     return virTestCompareToFile(actual, expectpath);
 }
 
diff --git a/tests/qemublocktestdata/checkpointdelete/snapshots-intermediate1-out.json b/tests/qemublocktestdata/checkpointdelete/snapshots-intermediate1-out.json
index 29fefeea6301756cbcd05437a5944e9490229225..c9bda3a17a9e40e222c523cc81260fa94c402b7e 100644
--- a/tests/qemublocktestdata/checkpointdelete/snapshots-intermediate1-out.json
+++ b/tests/qemublocktestdata/checkpointdelete/snapshots-intermediate1-out.json
@@ -20,3 +20,5 @@
     }
   }
 ]
+reopen nodes:
+libvirt-3-format
diff --git a/tests/qemublocktestdata/checkpointdelete/snapshots-intermediate2-out.json b/tests/qemublocktestdata/checkpointdelete/snapshots-intermediate2-out.json
index 4da21a9df71230df76d7b6a0e8e6963f7a310d1f..8a0e3f2cff8d9bbc050f026698c2671c26d227ad 100644
--- a/tests/qemublocktestdata/checkpointdelete/snapshots-intermediate2-out.json
+++ b/tests/qemublocktestdata/checkpointdelete/snapshots-intermediate2-out.json
@@ -57,3 +57,6 @@
     }
   }
 ]
+reopen nodes:
+libvirt-3-format
+libvirt-2-format
diff --git a/tests/qemublocktestdata/checkpointdelete/snapshots-intermediate3-out.json b/tests/qemublocktestdata/checkpointdelete/snapshots-intermediate3-out.json
index dc87dd60b87335a19cf6a9f1be590877f75da4be..211bc40bafbd2ebf9325eaf48198f0142278b469 100644
--- a/tests/qemublocktestdata/checkpointdelete/snapshots-intermediate3-out.json
+++ b/tests/qemublocktestdata/checkpointdelete/snapshots-intermediate3-out.json
@@ -57,3 +57,5 @@
     }
   }
 ]
+reopen nodes:
+libvirt-2-format
diff --git a/tests/qemublocktestdata/checkpointdelete/snapshots-noparent-out.json b/tests/qemublocktestdata/checkpointdelete/snapshots-noparent-out.json
index 45a84b47c24ca7cde95f72acb0ecdaf8008cfa8e..f750f44da2029eac82d3deb1936b1ab2b0fbb84f 100644
--- a/tests/qemublocktestdata/checkpointdelete/snapshots-noparent-out.json
+++ b/tests/qemublocktestdata/checkpointdelete/snapshots-noparent-out.json
@@ -21,3 +21,7 @@
     }
   }
 ]
+reopen nodes:
+libvirt-5-format
+libvirt-4-format
+libvirt-3-format
diff --git a/tests/qemublocktestdata/checkpointdelete/snapshots-synthetic-checkpoint-intermediate1-out.json b/tests/qemublocktestdata/checkpointdelete/snapshots-synthetic-checkpoint-intermediate1-out.json
index e979691e6fc1661c34babbbd4d37660ee3d68ea0..d7e6d1863742f2d70582c9bdd0ef6fd96f240338 100644
--- a/tests/qemublocktestdata/checkpointdelete/snapshots-synthetic-checkpoint-intermediate1-out.json
+++ b/tests/qemublocktestdata/checkpointdelete/snapshots-synthetic-checkpoint-intermediate1-out.json
@@ -27,3 +27,5 @@
     }
   }
 ]
+reopen nodes:
+libvirt-3-format
diff --git a/tests/qemublocktestdata/checkpointdelete/snapshots-synthetic-checkpoint-intermediate2-out.json b/tests/qemublocktestdata/checkpointdelete/snapshots-synthetic-checkpoint-intermediate2-out.json
index e82098918aeece855289b7f47901ac75ab18517d..cfbff010c2c6ddfa051a4e72fe8147b16fd52d3d 100644
--- a/tests/qemublocktestdata/checkpointdelete/snapshots-synthetic-checkpoint-intermediate2-out.json
+++ b/tests/qemublocktestdata/checkpointdelete/snapshots-synthetic-checkpoint-intermediate2-out.json
@@ -30,3 +30,5 @@
     }
   }
 ]
+reopen nodes:
+libvirt-2-format
diff --git a/tests/qemublocktestdata/checkpointdelete/snapshots-synthetic-checkpoint-intermediate3-out.json b/tests/qemublocktestdata/checkpointdelete/snapshots-synthetic-checkpoint-intermediate3-out.json
index dc87dd60b87335a19cf6a9f1be590877f75da4be..211bc40bafbd2ebf9325eaf48198f0142278b469 100644
--- a/tests/qemublocktestdata/checkpointdelete/snapshots-synthetic-checkpoint-intermediate3-out.json
+++ b/tests/qemublocktestdata/checkpointdelete/snapshots-synthetic-checkpoint-intermediate3-out.json
@@ -57,3 +57,5 @@
     }
   }
 ]
+reopen nodes:
+libvirt-2-format
diff --git a/tests/qemublocktestdata/checkpointdelete/snapshots-synthetic-checkpoint-noparent-out.json b/tests/qemublocktestdata/checkpointdelete/snapshots-synthetic-checkpoint-noparent-out.json
index 45a84b47c24ca7cde95f72acb0ecdaf8008cfa8e..f750f44da2029eac82d3deb1936b1ab2b0fbb84f 100644
--- a/tests/qemublocktestdata/checkpointdelete/snapshots-synthetic-checkpoint-noparent-out.json
+++ b/tests/qemublocktestdata/checkpointdelete/snapshots-synthetic-checkpoint-noparent-out.json
@@ -21,3 +21,7 @@
     }
   }
 ]
+reopen nodes:
+libvirt-5-format
+libvirt-4-format
+libvirt-3-format