diff --git a/src/conf/domain_conf.c b/src/conf/domain_conf.c
index 81560b8f5f2dad33a4b6cf71390a1596f1147421..f0ca9d59a3a953ae3ef2b3668bfeade40008c9d6 100644
--- a/src/conf/domain_conf.c
+++ b/src/conf/domain_conf.c
@@ -8429,10 +8429,13 @@ error:
 
 static virSysinfoDefPtr
 virSysinfoParseXML(const xmlNodePtr node,
-                  xmlXPathContextPtr ctxt)
+                  xmlXPathContextPtr ctxt,
+                  unsigned char *domUUID,
+                  bool uuid_generated)
 {
     virSysinfoDefPtr def;
     char *type;
+    char *tmpUUID = NULL;
 
     if (!xmlStrEqual(node->name, BAD_CAST "sysinfo")) {
         virReportError(VIR_ERR_XML_ERROR, "%s",
@@ -8500,8 +8503,33 @@ virSysinfoParseXML(const xmlNodePtr node,
         virXPathString("string(system/entry[@name='version'])", ctxt);
     def->system_serial =
         virXPathString("string(system/entry[@name='serial'])", ctxt);
-    def->system_uuid =
-        virXPathString("string(system/entry[@name='uuid'])", ctxt);
+    tmpUUID = virXPathString("string(system/entry[@name='uuid'])", ctxt);
+    if (tmpUUID) {
+        unsigned char uuidbuf[VIR_UUID_BUFLEN];
+        char uuidstr[VIR_UUID_STRING_BUFLEN];
+        if (virUUIDParse(tmpUUID, uuidbuf) < 0) {
+            virReportError(VIR_ERR_XML_DETAIL,
+                           "%s", _("malformed <sysinfo> uuid element"));
+            goto error;
+        }
+        if (uuid_generated)
+            memcpy(domUUID, uuidbuf, VIR_UUID_BUFLEN);
+        else if (memcmp(domUUID, uuidbuf, VIR_UUID_BUFLEN) != 0) {
+            virReportError(VIR_ERR_XML_DETAIL, "%s",
+                           _("UUID mismatch between <uuid> and "
+                             "<sysinfo>"));
+            goto error;
+        }
+        /* Although we've validated the UUID as good, virUUIDParse() is
+         * lax with respect to allowing extraneous "-" and " ", but the
+         * underlying hypervisor may be less forgiving. Use virUUIDFormat()
+         * to validate format in xml is right. If not, then format it
+         * properly so that it's used correctly later.
+         */
+        virUUIDFormat(uuidbuf, uuidstr);
+        if (VIR_STRDUP(def->system_uuid, uuidstr) < 0)
+            goto error;
+    }
     def->system_sku =
         virXPathString("string(system/entry[@name='sku'])", ctxt);
     def->system_family =
@@ -8509,6 +8537,7 @@ virSysinfoParseXML(const xmlNodePtr node,
 
 cleanup:
     VIR_FREE(type);
+    VIR_FREE(tmpUUID);
     return def;
 
 error:
@@ -11767,27 +11796,12 @@ virDomainDefParseXML(xmlDocPtr xml,
     if ((node = virXPathNode("./sysinfo[1]", ctxt)) != NULL) {
         xmlNodePtr oldnode = ctxt->node;
         ctxt->node = node;
-        def->sysinfo = virSysinfoParseXML(node, ctxt);
+        def->sysinfo = virSysinfoParseXML(node, ctxt,
+                                          def->uuid, uuid_generated);
         ctxt->node = oldnode;
 
         if (def->sysinfo == NULL)
             goto error;
-        if (def->sysinfo->system_uuid != NULL) {
-            unsigned char uuidbuf[VIR_UUID_BUFLEN];
-            if (virUUIDParse(def->sysinfo->system_uuid, uuidbuf) < 0) {
-                virReportError(VIR_ERR_INTERNAL_ERROR,
-                               "%s", _("malformed uuid element"));
-                goto error;
-            }
-            if (uuid_generated)
-                memcpy(def->uuid, uuidbuf, VIR_UUID_BUFLEN);
-            else if (memcmp(def->uuid, uuidbuf, VIR_UUID_BUFLEN) != 0) {
-                virReportError(VIR_ERR_INTERNAL_ERROR, "%s",
-                               _("UUID mismatch between <uuid> and "
-                                 "<sysinfo>"));
-                goto error;
-            }
-        }
     }
 
     if ((tmp = virXPathString("string(./os/smbios/@mode)", ctxt))) {
diff --git a/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/qemuxml2argv-smbios-uuid-match.xml b/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/qemuxml2argv-smbios-uuid-match.xml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..322fb3e21a35add588d98b8a64d0f0e0a47effe8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/qemuxml2argv-smbios-uuid-match.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+<domain type='qemu'>
+  <name>smbios</name>
+  <uuid>362d1fc1-df7d-193e-5c18-49a71bd1da66</uuid>
+  <memory unit='KiB'>1048576</memory>
+  <currentMemory unit='KiB'>1048576</currentMemory>
+  <vcpu placement='static'>1</vcpu>
+  <os>
+    <type arch='i686' machine='pc'>hvm</type>
+    <smbios mode="sysinfo"/>
+  </os>
+  <sysinfo type="smbios">
+    <system>
+      <entry name="uuid">a94b4335-6a14-8bc4-d6da-f7ea590b6816</entry>
+    </system>
+  </sysinfo>
+  <clock offset='utc'/>
+  <on_poweroff>destroy</on_poweroff>
+  <on_reboot>restart</on_reboot>
+  <on_crash>restart</on_crash>
+  <devices>
+    <emulator>/usr/bin/qemu</emulator>
+  </devices>
+</domain>
diff --git a/tests/qemuxml2argvtest.c b/tests/qemuxml2argvtest.c
index 58aeddde29cb8442c3eaba189ea34502db0bb5f8..c75144067b26d582e91df2607899155eb9d8e648 100644
--- a/tests/qemuxml2argvtest.c
+++ b/tests/qemuxml2argvtest.c
@@ -826,6 +826,7 @@ mymain(void)
 
     DO_TEST("smbios", QEMU_CAPS_SMBIOS_TYPE);
     DO_TEST_PARSE_ERROR("smbios-date", QEMU_CAPS_SMBIOS_TYPE);
+    DO_TEST_PARSE_ERROR("smbios-uuid-match", QEMU_CAPS_SMBIOS_TYPE);
 
     DO_TEST("watchdog", NONE);
     DO_TEST("watchdog-device", QEMU_CAPS_DEVICE, QEMU_CAPS_NODEFCONFIG);