diff --git a/src/util/virstoragefile.c b/src/util/virstoragefile.c
index 66cde582fc62a03c60dd6ce32ef8981a52cdd9a7..2a5ae8b1fd256637908d8dafce8bdb76cb323241 100644
--- a/src/util/virstoragefile.c
+++ b/src/util/virstoragefile.c
@@ -4935,9 +4935,15 @@ virStorageFileGetMetadataRecurse(virStorageSourcePtr src,
         goto cleanup;
 
     if (src->backingStoreRaw) {
-        if (virStorageSourceNewFromBacking(src, &backingStore) < 0)
+        if ((rv = virStorageSourceNewFromBacking(src, &backingStore)) < 0)
             goto cleanup;
 
+        if (rv == 1) {
+            /* the backing file would not be usable for VM usage */
+            ret = 0;
+            goto cleanup;
+        }
+
         if (backingFormat == VIR_STORAGE_FILE_AUTO)
             backingStore->format = VIR_STORAGE_FILE_RAW;
         else if (backingFormat == VIR_STORAGE_FILE_AUTO_SAFE)