diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_command.c b/src/qemu/qemu_command.c
index 0e504fe290e52aef86ca9b2256f950920581c2ea..44ae8dcef7b7d8775775317b49b7decf692ba206 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_command.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_command.c
@@ -1667,7 +1667,8 @@ qemuBuildDriveStr(virDomainDiskDefPtr disk,
 
     /* werror/rerror are really frontend attributes, but older
      * qemu requires them on -drive instead of -device */
-    qemuBuildDiskFrontendAttributeErrorPolicy(disk, &opt);
+    if (!virQEMUCapsGet(qemuCaps, QEMU_CAPS_USB_STORAGE_WERROR))
+        qemuBuildDiskFrontendAttributeErrorPolicy(disk, &opt);
 
 
     /* While this is a frontend attribute, it only makes sense to be used when
@@ -2129,6 +2130,9 @@ qemuBuildDiskDeviceStr(const virDomainDef *def,
 
     qemuBuildDiskFrontendAttributes(disk, &opt);
 
+    if (virQEMUCapsGet(qemuCaps, QEMU_CAPS_USB_STORAGE_WERROR))
+        qemuBuildDiskFrontendAttributeErrorPolicy(disk, &opt);
+
     if (virBufferCheckError(&opt) < 0)
         goto error;
 
diff --git a/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/disk-drive-error-policy.x86_64-latest.args b/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/disk-drive-error-policy.x86_64-latest.args
index 388f78df0f8a55fa2ba4d9416f1085d89301468f..e8fa9e24522ee59335ae4e781a222362eb963415 100644
--- a/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/disk-drive-error-policy.x86_64-latest.args
+++ b/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/disk-drive-error-policy.x86_64-latest.args
@@ -25,17 +25,17 @@ file=/tmp/lib/domain--1-QEMUGuest1/master-key.aes \
 -boot strict=on \
 -device piix3-usb-uhci,id=usb,bus=pci.0,addr=0x1.0x2 \
 -drive file=/dev/HostVG/QEMUGuest1,format=qcow2,if=none,id=drive-ide0-0-0,\
-werror=stop,rerror=stop,cache=none \
+cache=none \
 -device ide-hd,bus=ide.0,unit=0,drive=drive-ide0-0-0,id=ide0-0-0,bootindex=1,\
-write-cache=on \
+write-cache=on,werror=stop,rerror=stop \
 -drive file=/dev/HostVG/QEMUGuest2,format=qcow2,if=none,id=drive-ide0-0-1,\
-werror=enospc,cache=none \
+cache=none \
 -device ide-hd,bus=ide.0,unit=1,drive=drive-ide0-0-1,id=ide0-0-1,\
-write-cache=on \
+write-cache=on,werror=enospc \
 -drive file=/dev/HostVG/QEMUGuest3,format=qcow2,if=none,id=drive-ide0-1-0,\
-werror=report,rerror=ignore,cache=none \
+cache=none \
 -device ide-hd,bus=ide.1,unit=0,drive=drive-ide0-1-0,id=ide0-1-0,\
-write-cache=on \
+write-cache=on,werror=report,rerror=ignore \
 -sandbox on,obsolete=deny,elevateprivileges=deny,spawn=deny,\
 resourcecontrol=deny \
 -msg timestamp=on