diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c b/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c
index 2dd02a3f69d90da59b0e53593e41a09e9b29ea02..e8e03134f5cec3d08fe76b90506898db7b844e8b 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c
@@ -6385,6 +6385,11 @@ qemuDomainDetermineDiskChain(virQEMUDriverPtr driver,
             goto cleanup;
         }
 
+        /* terminate the chain for such images as the code below would do */
+        if (!src->backingStore &&
+            VIR_ALLOC(src->backingStore) < 0)
+            goto cleanup;
+
         ret = 0;
         goto cleanup;
     }
diff --git a/tests/qemuhotplugtestdomains/qemuhotplug-base-ccw-live+ccw-virtio.xml b/tests/qemuhotplugtestdomains/qemuhotplug-base-ccw-live+ccw-virtio.xml
index 0fa8d036b9bae41f2194737518319cdd2f437f7f..cd03d0e09b5131490cbc1d5813ff06a8efaba293 100644
--- a/tests/qemuhotplugtestdomains/qemuhotplug-base-ccw-live+ccw-virtio.xml
+++ b/tests/qemuhotplugtestdomains/qemuhotplug-base-ccw-live+ccw-virtio.xml
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@
     <disk type='file' device='disk'>
       <driver name='qemu' type='raw' cache='none'/>
       <source file='/dev/null'/>
+      <backingStore/>
       <target dev='vde' bus='virtio'/>
       <readonly/>
       <shareable/>
diff --git a/tests/qemuhotplugtestdomains/qemuhotplug-base-ccw-live-with-2-ccw-virtio+ccw-virtio-1-reverse.xml b/tests/qemuhotplugtestdomains/qemuhotplug-base-ccw-live-with-2-ccw-virtio+ccw-virtio-1-reverse.xml
index 135427fff51944c275a7630c1d506ba663ad232a..7be75f977b8ee394684b7c41efa300f28f89fbe9 100644
--- a/tests/qemuhotplugtestdomains/qemuhotplug-base-ccw-live-with-2-ccw-virtio+ccw-virtio-1-reverse.xml
+++ b/tests/qemuhotplugtestdomains/qemuhotplug-base-ccw-live-with-2-ccw-virtio+ccw-virtio-1-reverse.xml
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@
     <disk type='file' device='disk'>
       <driver name='qemu' type='raw' cache='none'/>
       <source file='/dev/null'/>
+      <backingStore/>
       <target dev='hda' bus='virtio'/>
       <readonly/>
       <shareable/>
@@ -31,6 +32,7 @@
     <disk type='file' device='disk'>
       <driver name='qemu' type='raw' cache='none'/>
       <source file='/dev/null'/>
+      <backingStore/>
       <target dev='hdb' bus='virtio'/>
       <readonly/>
       <shareable/>
diff --git a/tests/qemuhotplugtestdomains/qemuhotplug-base-ccw-live-with-2-ccw-virtio.xml b/tests/qemuhotplugtestdomains/qemuhotplug-base-ccw-live-with-2-ccw-virtio.xml
index e17c4e43b2d6e6f52961fa2fdd4d028df3e17630..a83f1b5d73ee6a7cbc5918f588eaf34fc33bef99 100644
--- a/tests/qemuhotplugtestdomains/qemuhotplug-base-ccw-live-with-2-ccw-virtio.xml
+++ b/tests/qemuhotplugtestdomains/qemuhotplug-base-ccw-live-with-2-ccw-virtio.xml
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@
     <disk type='file' device='disk'>
       <driver name='qemu' type='raw' cache='none'/>
       <source file='/dev/null'/>
+      <backingStore/>
       <target dev='hda' bus='virtio'/>
       <readonly/>
       <shareable/>
diff --git a/tests/qemuhotplugtestdomains/qemuhotplug-base-ccw-live-with-ccw-virtio+ccw-virtio-2-explicit.xml b/tests/qemuhotplugtestdomains/qemuhotplug-base-ccw-live-with-ccw-virtio+ccw-virtio-2-explicit.xml
index 326d312fa99c0bd7e016ebda2b96b4c003165b22..3e902075195fbd2b5e4294fc3512b2dc48140477 100644
--- a/tests/qemuhotplugtestdomains/qemuhotplug-base-ccw-live-with-ccw-virtio+ccw-virtio-2-explicit.xml
+++ b/tests/qemuhotplugtestdomains/qemuhotplug-base-ccw-live-with-ccw-virtio+ccw-virtio-2-explicit.xml
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@
     <disk type='file' device='disk'>
       <driver name='qemu' type='raw' cache='none'/>
       <source file='/dev/null'/>
+      <backingStore/>
       <target dev='hda' bus='virtio'/>
       <readonly/>
       <shareable/>
diff --git a/tests/qemuhotplugtestdomains/qemuhotplug-base-ccw-live-with-ccw-virtio+ccw-virtio-2.xml b/tests/qemuhotplugtestdomains/qemuhotplug-base-ccw-live-with-ccw-virtio+ccw-virtio-2.xml
index 326d312fa99c0bd7e016ebda2b96b4c003165b22..3e902075195fbd2b5e4294fc3512b2dc48140477 100644
--- a/tests/qemuhotplugtestdomains/qemuhotplug-base-ccw-live-with-ccw-virtio+ccw-virtio-2.xml
+++ b/tests/qemuhotplugtestdomains/qemuhotplug-base-ccw-live-with-ccw-virtio+ccw-virtio-2.xml
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@
     <disk type='file' device='disk'>
       <driver name='qemu' type='raw' cache='none'/>
       <source file='/dev/null'/>
+      <backingStore/>
       <target dev='hda' bus='virtio'/>
       <readonly/>
       <shareable/>
diff --git a/tests/qemuhotplugtestdomains/qemuhotplug-base-live+disk-scsi-wwn+disk-scsi-duplicate-wwn.xml b/tests/qemuhotplugtestdomains/qemuhotplug-base-live+disk-scsi-wwn+disk-scsi-duplicate-wwn.xml
index 16caeb354249a499ba885a0416a5c9239aaf1bca..4c3ea3202bb0a424eeca1b899ebdd1141c834750 100644
--- a/tests/qemuhotplugtestdomains/qemuhotplug-base-live+disk-scsi-wwn+disk-scsi-duplicate-wwn.xml
+++ b/tests/qemuhotplugtestdomains/qemuhotplug-base-live+disk-scsi-wwn+disk-scsi-duplicate-wwn.xml
@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@
     <disk type='file' device='disk'>
       <driver name='qemu' type='raw' cache='none'/>
       <source file='/dev/null'/>
+      <backingStore/>
       <target dev='sdg' bus='scsi'/>
       <readonly/>
       <shareable/>
diff --git a/tests/qemuhotplugtestdomains/qemuhotplug-base-live+disk-scsi.xml b/tests/qemuhotplugtestdomains/qemuhotplug-base-live+disk-scsi.xml
index a6dbf0b1bd7175cb1a7fe6c65eb366d7a0edf501..493a615fd36083120aac5e3d2026d651775811b5 100644
--- a/tests/qemuhotplugtestdomains/qemuhotplug-base-live+disk-scsi.xml
+++ b/tests/qemuhotplugtestdomains/qemuhotplug-base-live+disk-scsi.xml
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@
     <disk type='file' device='disk'>
       <driver name='qemu' type='raw' cache='none'/>
       <source file='/dev/null'/>
+      <backingStore/>
       <target dev='sdf' bus='scsi'/>
       <readonly/>
       <shareable/>
diff --git a/tests/qemuhotplugtestdomains/qemuhotplug-base-live+disk-usb.xml b/tests/qemuhotplugtestdomains/qemuhotplug-base-live+disk-usb.xml
index 6ccb88f1405bc61ffa7981c7dde0e2d066b70a52..3609819ea3e7829775ab005cecbad38b21288561 100644
--- a/tests/qemuhotplugtestdomains/qemuhotplug-base-live+disk-usb.xml
+++ b/tests/qemuhotplugtestdomains/qemuhotplug-base-live+disk-usb.xml
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@
     <disk type='file' device='disk'>
       <driver name='qemu' type='raw' cache='none'/>
       <source file='/dev/null'/>
+      <backingStore/>
       <target dev='sdq' bus='usb'/>
       <readonly/>
       <shareable/>
diff --git a/tests/qemuhotplugtestdomains/qemuhotplug-base-live+disk-virtio.xml b/tests/qemuhotplugtestdomains/qemuhotplug-base-live+disk-virtio.xml
index b97c0b41e2afe7317d900f24165086cc507777c1..b88b220e33d296e7b45d40981694654777bd9ed9 100644
--- a/tests/qemuhotplugtestdomains/qemuhotplug-base-live+disk-virtio.xml
+++ b/tests/qemuhotplugtestdomains/qemuhotplug-base-live+disk-virtio.xml
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@
     <disk type='file' device='disk'>
       <driver name='qemu' type='raw' cache='none'/>
       <source file='/dev/null'/>
+      <backingStore/>
       <target dev='vde' bus='virtio'/>
       <readonly/>
       <shareable/>
diff --git a/tests/qemuhotplugtestdomains/qemuhotplug-base-without-scsi-controller-live+disk-scsi-2.xml b/tests/qemuhotplugtestdomains/qemuhotplug-base-without-scsi-controller-live+disk-scsi-2.xml
index 6422e1640d3567f155553c5e7c57117f651aae92..c12d18f7162e6784d00e61d168705a676f4741dd 100644
--- a/tests/qemuhotplugtestdomains/qemuhotplug-base-without-scsi-controller-live+disk-scsi-2.xml
+++ b/tests/qemuhotplugtestdomains/qemuhotplug-base-without-scsi-controller-live+disk-scsi-2.xml
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@
     <disk type='file' device='disk'>
       <driver name='qemu' type='raw' cache='none'/>
       <source file='/dev/null'/>
+      <backingStore/>
       <target dev='sdf' bus='scsi'/>
       <readonly/>
       <shareable/>