diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_block.c b/src/qemu/qemu_block.c
index 7ad79c7e7d596bc5305c3d552c33af7987f4d220..509b0a5210ae159a00796b5824e2d3cc42a8d635 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_block.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_block.c
@@ -19,8 +19,10 @@
 #include <config.h>
 
 #include "qemu_block.h"
+#include "qemu_command.h"
 #include "qemu_domain.h"
 #include "qemu_alias.h"
+#include "qemu_monitor_json.h"
 
 #include "viralloc.h"
 #include "virstring.h"
@@ -1707,3 +1709,37 @@ qemuBlockStorageSourceDetachOneBlockdev(virQEMUDriverPtr driver,
 
     return ret;
 }
+
+
+int
+qemuBlockSnapshotAddLegacy(virJSONValuePtr actions,
+                           virDomainDiskDefPtr disk,
+                           virStorageSourcePtr newsrc,
+                           bool reuse)
+{
+    const char *format = virStorageFileFormatTypeToString(newsrc->format);
+    char *device = NULL;
+    char *source = NULL;
+    int ret = -1;
+
+    if (!(device = qemuAliasDiskDriveFromDisk(disk)))
+        goto cleanup;
+
+    if (qemuGetDriveSourceString(newsrc, NULL, &source) < 0)
+        goto cleanup;
+
+    if (qemuMonitorJSONTransactionAdd(actions, "blockdev-snapshot-sync",
+                                      "s:device", device,
+                                      "s:snapshot-file", source,
+                                      "s:format", format,
+                                      "S:mode", reuse ? "existing" : NULL,
+                                      NULL) < 0)
+        goto cleanup;
+
+    ret = 0;
+
+ cleanup:
+    VIR_FREE(device);
+    VIR_FREE(source);
+    return ret;
+}
diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_block.h b/src/qemu/qemu_block.h
index 418b5064b5b012d46d9fe37a54c4075cd047f2e6..fd8984e60b54cc8db52c4e37dcae6a983b0d9cb8 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_block.h
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_block.h
@@ -117,4 +117,10 @@ qemuBlockStorageSourceDetachOneBlockdev(virQEMUDriverPtr driver,
                                         qemuDomainAsyncJob asyncJob,
                                         virStorageSourcePtr src);
 
+int
+qemuBlockSnapshotAddLegacy(virJSONValuePtr actions,
+                           virDomainDiskDefPtr disk,
+                           virStorageSourcePtr newsrc,
+                           bool reuse);
+
 #endif /* __QEMU_BLOCK_H__ */
diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_driver.c b/src/qemu/qemu_driver.c
index 0ef252d71bffff9c30529b3674a9ebe0ded73ce6..8cdb04e9873d11bb510b331a6e0c67e54ec08ff3 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_driver.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_driver.c
@@ -14935,23 +14935,16 @@ qemuDomainSnapshotCreateSingleDiskActive(virQEMUDriverPtr driver,
                                          virJSONValuePtr actions,
                                          bool reuse)
 {
-    qemuDomainObjPrivatePtr priv = vm->privateData;
-    char *device = NULL;
-    char *source = NULL;
-    const char *formatStr = NULL;
     int ret = -1;
 
-    if (!(device = qemuAliasDiskDriveFromDisk(dd->disk)))
-        goto cleanup;
-
-    if (qemuGetDriveSourceString(dd->src, NULL, &source) < 0)
+    if (qemuBlockSnapshotAddLegacy(actions, dd->disk, dd->src, reuse) < 0)
         goto cleanup;
 
     /* pre-create the image file so that we can label it before handing it to qemu */
     if (!reuse && dd->src->type != VIR_STORAGE_TYPE_BLOCK) {
         if (virStorageFileCreate(dd->src) < 0) {
             virReportSystemError(errno, _("failed to create image file '%s'"),
-                                 source);
+                                 NULLSTR(dd->src->path));
             goto cleanup;
         }
         dd->created = true;
@@ -14965,14 +14958,9 @@ qemuDomainSnapshotCreateSingleDiskActive(virQEMUDriverPtr driver,
 
     dd->prepared = true;
 
-    formatStr = virStorageFileFormatTypeToString(dd->src->format);
-
-    ret = qemuMonitorDiskSnapshot(priv->mon, actions, device, source,
-                                  formatStr, reuse);
+    ret = 0;
 
  cleanup:
-    VIR_FREE(device);
-    VIR_FREE(source);
     return ret;
 }