diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_cgroup.c b/src/qemu/qemu_cgroup.c
index aaf94cfd98a00bd3fd8d40c97420bfa76dc1a976..9784f3111a385218537adb183a8a63a646adbace 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_cgroup.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_cgroup.c
@@ -456,8 +456,7 @@ int qemuInitCgroup(virQEMUDriverPtr driver,
         if (rc != 0) {
             if (rc == -ENXIO ||
                 rc == -EPERM ||
-                rc == -EACCES ||
-                rc == -ENOENT) { /* No cgroups mounts == success */
+                rc == -EACCES) { /* No cgroups mounts == success */
                 VIR_DEBUG("No cgroups present/configured/accessible, ignoring error");
                 goto done;
             }
diff --git a/src/util/vircgroup.c b/src/util/vircgroup.c
index 5780785c5472f1e47541019e4e44a5c97b5028ac..07ea2c30ef03a4e69e4c528148a97433515dd7d8 100644
--- a/src/util/vircgroup.c
+++ b/src/util/vircgroup.c
@@ -1110,8 +1110,13 @@ static int virCgroupPartitionNeedsEscaping(const char *path)
         path[0] == '.')
         return 1;
 
-    if (!(fp = fopen("/proc/cgroups", "r")))
+    if (!(fp = fopen("/proc/cgroups", "r"))) {
+        /* The API contract is that we return ENXIO
+         * if cgroups are not available on a host */
+        if (errno == ENOENT)
+            errno = ENXIO;
         return -errno;
+    }
 
     /*
      * Data looks like this: