diff --git a/src/util/vircgroup.c b/src/util/vircgroup.c
index f9007e3d563d40cd841a6e9ece145b8a69e2edc6..0e8bb795764507538e3062bd11fd7806a3a05970 100644
--- a/src/util/vircgroup.c
+++ b/src/util/vircgroup.c
@@ -57,7 +57,8 @@
 
 VIR_ENUM_IMPL(virCgroupController, VIR_CGROUP_CONTROLLER_LAST,
               "cpu", "cpuacct", "cpuset", "memory", "devices",
-              "freezer", "blkio", "net_cls", "perf_event");
+              "freezer", "blkio", "net_cls", "perf_event",
+              "name=systemd");
 
 typedef enum {
     VIR_CGROUP_NONE = 0, /* create subdir under each cgroup if possible. */
@@ -117,6 +118,9 @@ virCgroupValidateMachineGroup(virCgroupPtr group,
     for (i = 0; i < VIR_CGROUP_CONTROLLER_LAST; i++) {
         char *tmp;
 
+        if (i == VIR_CGROUP_CONTROLLER_SYSTEMD)
+            continue;
+
         if (!group->controllers[i].placement)
             continue;
 
@@ -331,6 +335,9 @@ static int virCgroupCopyPlacement(virCgroupPtr group,
         if (!group->controllers[i].mountPoint)
             continue;
 
+        if (i == VIR_CGROUP_CONTROLLER_SYSTEMD)
+            continue;
+
         if (path[0] == '/') {
             if (VIR_STRDUP(group->controllers[i].placement, path) < 0)
                 return -1;
@@ -386,6 +393,8 @@ static int virCgroupDetectPlacement(virCgroupPtr group,
     int ret = -1;
     char *procfile;
 
+    VIR_DEBUG("Detecting placement for pid %lld path %s",
+              (unsigned long long)pid, path);
     if (pid == -1) {
         if (VIR_STRDUP(procfile, "/proc/self/cgroup") < 0)
             goto cleanup;
@@ -422,6 +431,7 @@ static int virCgroupDetectPlacement(virCgroupPtr group,
             const char *typestr = virCgroupControllerTypeToString(i);
             int typelen = strlen(typestr);
             char *tmp = controllers;
+
             while (tmp) {
                 char *next = strchr(tmp, ',');
                 int len;
@@ -438,13 +448,20 @@ static int virCgroupDetectPlacement(virCgroupPtr group,
                  * selfpath=="/libvirt.service" + path="foo" -> "/libvirt.service/foo"
                  */
                 if (typelen == len && STREQLEN(typestr, tmp, len) &&
-                    group->controllers[i].mountPoint != NULL) {
-                    if (virAsprintf(&group->controllers[i].placement,
-                                    "%s%s%s", selfpath,
-                                    (STREQ(selfpath, "/") ||
-                                     STREQ(path, "") ? "" : "/"),
-                                    path) < 0)
-                        goto cleanup;
+                    group->controllers[i].mountPoint != NULL &&
+                    group->controllers[i].placement == NULL) {
+                    if (i == VIR_CGROUP_CONTROLLER_SYSTEMD) {
+                        if (VIR_STRDUP(group->controllers[i].placement,
+                                       selfpath) < 0)
+                            goto cleanup;
+                    } else {
+                        if (virAsprintf(&group->controllers[i].placement,
+                                        "%s%s%s", selfpath,
+                                        (STREQ(selfpath, "/") ||
+                                         STREQ(path, "") ? "" : "/"),
+                                        path) < 0)
+                            goto cleanup;
+                    }
                 }
 
                 tmp = next;
@@ -535,13 +552,16 @@ static int virCgroupDetect(virCgroupPtr group,
         return -1;
     }
 
-    if (parent || path[0] == '/') {
-        if (virCgroupCopyPlacement(group, path, parent) < 0)
-            return -1;
-    } else {
-        if (virCgroupDetectPlacement(group, pid, path) < 0)
-            return -1;
-    }
+    /* In some cases we can copy part of the placement info
+     * based on the parent cgroup...
+     */
+    if ((parent || path[0] == '/') &&
+        virCgroupCopyPlacement(group, path, parent) < 0)
+        return -1;
+
+    /* ... but use /proc/cgroups to fill in the rest */
+    if (virCgroupDetectPlacement(group, pid, path) < 0)
+        return -1;
 
     /* Check that for every mounted controller, we found our placement */
     for (i = 0; i < VIR_CGROUP_CONTROLLER_LAST; i++) {
@@ -833,6 +853,12 @@ static int virCgroupMakeGroup(virCgroupPtr parent,
     for (i = 0; i < VIR_CGROUP_CONTROLLER_LAST; i++) {
         char *path = NULL;
 
+        /* We must never mkdir() in systemd's hierarchy */
+        if (i == VIR_CGROUP_CONTROLLER_SYSTEMD) {
+            VIR_DEBUG("Not creating systemd controller group");
+            continue;
+        }
+
         /* Skip over controllers that aren't mounted */
         if (!group->controllers[i].mountPoint) {
             VIR_DEBUG("Skipping unmounted controller %s",
@@ -1037,6 +1063,10 @@ int virCgroupRemove(virCgroupPtr group)
         if (!group->controllers[i].mountPoint)
             continue;
 
+        /* We must never rmdir() in systemd's hierarchy */
+        if (i == VIR_CGROUP_CONTROLLER_SYSTEMD)
+            continue;
+
         /* Don't delete the root group, if we accidentally
            ended up in it for some reason */
         if (STREQ(group->controllers[i].placement, "/"))
@@ -1076,6 +1106,10 @@ int virCgroupAddTask(virCgroupPtr group, pid_t pid)
         if (!group->controllers[i].mountPoint)
             continue;
 
+        /* We must never add tasks in systemd's hierarchy */
+        if (i == VIR_CGROUP_CONTROLLER_SYSTEMD)
+            continue;
+
         if (virCgroupSetValueU64(group, i, "tasks", (unsigned long long)pid) < 0)
             goto cleanup;
     }
@@ -1177,6 +1211,10 @@ int virCgroupMoveTask(virCgroupPtr src_group, virCgroupPtr dest_group)
             !dest_group->controllers[i].mountPoint)
             continue;
 
+        /* We must never move tasks in systemd's hierarchy */
+        if (i == VIR_CGROUP_CONTROLLER_SYSTEMD)
+            continue;
+
         /* New threads are created in the same group as their parent;
          * but if a thread is created after we first read we aren't
          * aware that it needs to move.  Therefore, we must iterate
diff --git a/src/util/vircgroup.h b/src/util/vircgroup.h
index 3aaf08112686618a050d57b4668adc2ef530bb78..e579f419f4ea9e294a89861426f33dc32b1b2ffd 100644
--- a/src/util/vircgroup.h
+++ b/src/util/vircgroup.h
@@ -40,6 +40,7 @@ enum {
     VIR_CGROUP_CONTROLLER_BLKIO,
     VIR_CGROUP_CONTROLLER_NET_CLS,
     VIR_CGROUP_CONTROLLER_PERF_EVENT,
+    VIR_CGROUP_CONTROLLER_SYSTEMD,
 
     VIR_CGROUP_CONTROLLER_LAST
 };
diff --git a/tests/vircgrouptest.c b/tests/vircgrouptest.c
index 20ac4949ac43b1118707747cf99c280e8fc896dc..4bdd4c9bddcee4fc7e53aec1fada9ea77d30a5c6 100644
--- a/tests/vircgrouptest.c
+++ b/tests/vircgrouptest.c
@@ -87,6 +87,7 @@ const char *mountsSmall[VIR_CGROUP_CONTROLLER_LAST] = {
     [VIR_CGROUP_CONTROLLER_DEVICES] = NULL,
     [VIR_CGROUP_CONTROLLER_FREEZER] = NULL,
     [VIR_CGROUP_CONTROLLER_BLKIO] = NULL,
+    [VIR_CGROUP_CONTROLLER_SYSTEMD] = NULL,
 };
 const char *mountsFull[VIR_CGROUP_CONTROLLER_LAST] = {
     [VIR_CGROUP_CONTROLLER_CPU] = "/not/really/sys/fs/cgroup/cpu,cpuacct",
@@ -96,6 +97,7 @@ const char *mountsFull[VIR_CGROUP_CONTROLLER_LAST] = {
     [VIR_CGROUP_CONTROLLER_DEVICES] = NULL,
     [VIR_CGROUP_CONTROLLER_FREEZER] = "/not/really/sys/fs/cgroup/freezer",
     [VIR_CGROUP_CONTROLLER_BLKIO] = "/not/really/sys/fs/cgroup/blkio",
+    [VIR_CGROUP_CONTROLLER_SYSTEMD] = "/not/really/sys/fs/cgroup/systemd",
 };
 
 const char *links[VIR_CGROUP_CONTROLLER_LAST] = {
@@ -121,6 +123,7 @@ static int testCgroupNewForSelf(const void *args ATTRIBUTE_UNUSED)
         [VIR_CGROUP_CONTROLLER_DEVICES] = NULL,
         [VIR_CGROUP_CONTROLLER_FREEZER] = "/",
         [VIR_CGROUP_CONTROLLER_BLKIO] = "/",
+        [VIR_CGROUP_CONTROLLER_SYSTEMD] = "/user/berrange/123",
     };
 
     if (virCgroupNewSelf(&cgroup) < 0) {
@@ -161,6 +164,7 @@ static int testCgroupNewForPartition(const void *args ATTRIBUTE_UNUSED)
         [VIR_CGROUP_CONTROLLER_DEVICES] = NULL,
         [VIR_CGROUP_CONTROLLER_FREEZER] = NULL,
         [VIR_CGROUP_CONTROLLER_BLKIO] = NULL,
+        [VIR_CGROUP_CONTROLLER_SYSTEMD] = NULL,
     };
     const char *placementFull[VIR_CGROUP_CONTROLLER_LAST] = {
         [VIR_CGROUP_CONTROLLER_CPU] = "/virtualmachines.partition",
@@ -170,6 +174,7 @@ static int testCgroupNewForPartition(const void *args ATTRIBUTE_UNUSED)
         [VIR_CGROUP_CONTROLLER_DEVICES] = NULL,
         [VIR_CGROUP_CONTROLLER_FREEZER] = "/virtualmachines.partition",
         [VIR_CGROUP_CONTROLLER_BLKIO] = "/virtualmachines.partition",
+        [VIR_CGROUP_CONTROLLER_SYSTEMD] = "/user/berrange/123",
     };
 
     if ((rv = virCgroupNewPartition("/virtualmachines", false, -1, &cgroup)) != -1) {
@@ -233,6 +238,7 @@ static int testCgroupNewForPartitionNested(const void *args ATTRIBUTE_UNUSED)
         [VIR_CGROUP_CONTROLLER_DEVICES] = NULL,
         [VIR_CGROUP_CONTROLLER_FREEZER] = "/deployment.partition/production.partition",
         [VIR_CGROUP_CONTROLLER_BLKIO] = "/deployment.partition/production.partition",
+        [VIR_CGROUP_CONTROLLER_SYSTEMD] = "/user/berrange/123",
     };
 
     if ((rv = virCgroupNewPartition("/deployment/production", false, -1, &cgroup)) != -1) {
@@ -281,6 +287,7 @@ static int testCgroupNewForPartitionNestedDeep(const void *args ATTRIBUTE_UNUSED
         [VIR_CGROUP_CONTROLLER_DEVICES] = NULL,
         [VIR_CGROUP_CONTROLLER_FREEZER] = "/user/berrange.user/production.partition",
         [VIR_CGROUP_CONTROLLER_BLKIO] = "/user/berrange.user/production.partition",
+        [VIR_CGROUP_CONTROLLER_SYSTEMD] = "/user/berrange/123",
     };
 
     if ((rv = virCgroupNewPartition("/user/berrange.user/production", false, -1, &cgroup)) != -1) {
@@ -336,6 +343,7 @@ static int testCgroupNewForPartitionDomain(const void *args ATTRIBUTE_UNUSED)
         [VIR_CGROUP_CONTROLLER_DEVICES] = NULL,
         [VIR_CGROUP_CONTROLLER_FREEZER] = "/production.partition/foo.libvirt-lxc",
         [VIR_CGROUP_CONTROLLER_BLKIO] = "/production.partition/foo.libvirt-lxc",
+        [VIR_CGROUP_CONTROLLER_SYSTEMD] = "/user/berrange/123",
     };
 
     if ((rv = virCgroupNewPartition("/production", true, -1, &partitioncgroup)) != 0) {
@@ -372,6 +380,7 @@ static int testCgroupNewForPartitionDomainEscaped(const void *args ATTRIBUTE_UNU
         [VIR_CGROUP_CONTROLLER_DEVICES] = NULL,
         [VIR_CGROUP_CONTROLLER_FREEZER] = "/_cgroup.evil/net_cls.evil/__evil.evil/_cpu.foo.libvirt-lxc",
         [VIR_CGROUP_CONTROLLER_BLKIO] = "/_cgroup.evil/net_cls.evil/__evil.evil/_cpu.foo.libvirt-lxc",
+        [VIR_CGROUP_CONTROLLER_SYSTEMD] = "/user/berrange/123",
     };
 
     if ((rv = virCgroupNewPartition("/cgroup.evil", true, -1, &partitioncgroup1)) != 0) {