diff --git a/src/vmx/vmx.c b/src/vmx/vmx.c
index bfc9bc7404bcab39448f33102202494df941e9f7..6c6ef7acf3405009cd1bcbc095c119cc833ce5da 100644
--- a/src/vmx/vmx.c
+++ b/src/vmx/vmx.c
@@ -2207,7 +2207,7 @@ virVMXParseDisk(virVMXContext *ctx, virDomainXMLOptionPtr xmlopt, virConfPtr con
         goto cleanup;
 
     /* vmx:fileName -> def:src, def:type */
-    if (virVMXGetConfigString(conf, fileName_name, &fileName, false) < 0)
+    if (virVMXGetConfigString(conf, fileName_name, &fileName, true) < 0)
         goto cleanup;
 
     /* vmx:writeThrough -> def:cachemode */
@@ -2218,7 +2218,8 @@ virVMXParseDisk(virVMXContext *ctx, virDomainXMLOptionPtr xmlopt, virConfPtr con
 
     /* Setup virDomainDiskDef */
     if (device == VIR_DOMAIN_DISK_DEVICE_DISK) {
-        if (virStringHasCaseSuffix(fileName, ".iso") ||
+        if (fileName == NULL ||
+            virStringHasCaseSuffix(fileName, ".iso") ||
             STREQ(fileName, "emptyBackingString") ||
             (deviceType &&
              (STRCASEEQ(deviceType, "atapi-cdrom") ||
@@ -2277,7 +2278,7 @@ virVMXParseDisk(virVMXContext *ctx, virDomainXMLOptionPtr xmlopt, virConfPtr con
             goto cleanup;
         }
     } else if (device == VIR_DOMAIN_DISK_DEVICE_CDROM) {
-        if (virStringHasCaseSuffix(fileName, ".vmdk")) {
+        if (fileName && virStringHasCaseSuffix(fileName, ".vmdk")) {
             /*
              * This function was called in order to parse a CDROM device, but
              * .vmdk files are for harddisk devices only. Just ignore it,
@@ -2285,7 +2286,7 @@ virVMXParseDisk(virVMXContext *ctx, virDomainXMLOptionPtr xmlopt, virConfPtr con
              * handle it.
              */
             goto ignore;
-        } else if (virStringHasCaseSuffix(fileName, ".iso")) {
+        } else if (fileName && virStringHasCaseSuffix(fileName, ".iso")) {
             char *tmp;
 
             if (deviceType && STRCASENEQ(deviceType, "cdrom-image")) {
@@ -2306,7 +2307,7 @@ virVMXParseDisk(virVMXContext *ctx, virDomainXMLOptionPtr xmlopt, virConfPtr con
         } else if (deviceType && STRCASEEQ(deviceType, "atapi-cdrom")) {
             virDomainDiskSetType(*def, VIR_STORAGE_TYPE_BLOCK);
 
-            if (STRCASEEQ(fileName, "auto detect")) {
+            if (fileName && STRCASEEQ(fileName, "auto detect")) {
                 ignore_value(virDomainDiskSetSource(*def, NULL));
                 (*def)->startupPolicy = VIR_DOMAIN_STARTUP_POLICY_OPTIONAL;
             } else if (virDomainDiskSetSource(*def, fileName) < 0) {
@@ -2317,7 +2318,7 @@ virVMXParseDisk(virVMXContext *ctx, virDomainXMLOptionPtr xmlopt, virConfPtr con
             (*def)->device = VIR_DOMAIN_DISK_DEVICE_LUN;
             virDomainDiskSetType(*def, VIR_STORAGE_TYPE_BLOCK);
 
-            if (STRCASEEQ(fileName, "auto detect")) {
+            if (fileName && STRCASEEQ(fileName, "auto detect")) {
                 ignore_value(virDomainDiskSetSource(*def, NULL));
                 (*def)->startupPolicy = VIR_DOMAIN_STARTUP_POLICY_OPTIONAL;
             } else if (virDomainDiskSetSource(*def, fileName) < 0) {
@@ -2325,7 +2326,7 @@ virVMXParseDisk(virVMXContext *ctx, virDomainXMLOptionPtr xmlopt, virConfPtr con
             }
         } else if (busType == VIR_DOMAIN_DISK_BUS_SCSI &&
                    deviceType && STRCASEEQ(deviceType, "scsi-passthru")) {
-            if (STRPREFIX(fileName, "/vmfs/devices/cdrom/")) {
+            if (fileName && STRPREFIX(fileName, "/vmfs/devices/cdrom/")) {
                 /* SCSI-passthru CD-ROMs actually are device='lun' */
                 (*def)->device = VIR_DOMAIN_DISK_DEVICE_LUN;
                 virDomainDiskSetType(*def, VIR_STORAGE_TYPE_BLOCK);
@@ -2341,7 +2342,7 @@ virVMXParseDisk(virVMXContext *ctx, virDomainXMLOptionPtr xmlopt, virConfPtr con
                  */
                 goto ignore;
             }
-        } else if (STREQ(fileName, "emptyBackingString")) {
+        } else if (fileName && STREQ(fileName, "emptyBackingString")) {
             if (deviceType && STRCASENEQ(deviceType, "cdrom-image")) {
                 virReportError(VIR_ERR_INTERNAL_ERROR,
                                _("Expecting VMX entry '%s' to be 'cdrom-image' "
@@ -2355,7 +2356,7 @@ virVMXParseDisk(virVMXContext *ctx, virDomainXMLOptionPtr xmlopt, virConfPtr con
             virReportError(VIR_ERR_INTERNAL_ERROR,
                            _("Invalid or not yet handled value '%s' "
                              "for VMX entry '%s' for device type '%s'"),
-                           fileName, fileName_name,
+                           NULLSTR(fileName), fileName_name,
                            deviceType ? deviceType : "unknown");
             goto cleanup;
         }
@@ -2365,10 +2366,10 @@ virVMXParseDisk(virVMXContext *ctx, virDomainXMLOptionPtr xmlopt, virConfPtr con
             if (virDomainDiskSetSource(*def, fileName) < 0)
                 goto cleanup;
         } else if (fileType != NULL && STRCASEEQ(fileType, "file")) {
-            char *tmp;
+            char *tmp = NULL;
 
             virDomainDiskSetType(*def, VIR_STORAGE_TYPE_FILE);
-            if (!(tmp = ctx->parseFileName(fileName, ctx->opaque)))
+            if (fileName && !(tmp = ctx->parseFileName(fileName, ctx->opaque)))
                 goto cleanup;
             if (virDomainDiskSetSource(*def, tmp) < 0) {
                 VIR_FREE(tmp);
@@ -2379,7 +2380,7 @@ virVMXParseDisk(virVMXContext *ctx, virDomainXMLOptionPtr xmlopt, virConfPtr con
             virReportError(VIR_ERR_INTERNAL_ERROR,
                            _("Invalid or not yet handled value '%s' "
                              "for VMX entry '%s' for device type '%s'"),
-                           fileName, fileName_name,
+                           NULLSTR(fileName), fileName_name,
                            deviceType ? deviceType : "unknown");
             goto cleanup;
         }
diff --git a/tests/vmx2xmldata/vmx2xml-cdrom-ide-empty-2.vmx b/tests/vmx2xmldata/vmx2xml-cdrom-ide-empty-2.vmx
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..36286cb20f32e4d40e0527ea557a6456f6a2fd73
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/vmx2xmldata/vmx2xml-cdrom-ide-empty-2.vmx
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+config.version = "8"
+virtualHW.version = "4"
+ide0:0.present = "true"
+ide0:0.deviceType = "atapi-cdrom"
diff --git a/tests/vmx2xmldata/vmx2xml-cdrom-ide-empty-2.xml b/tests/vmx2xmldata/vmx2xml-cdrom-ide-empty-2.xml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..af4a5ff9f67aff9eee34648b2aad8723385e76ec
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/vmx2xmldata/vmx2xml-cdrom-ide-empty-2.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+<domain type='vmware'>
+  <uuid>00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000</uuid>
+  <memory unit='KiB'>32768</memory>
+  <currentMemory unit='KiB'>32768</currentMemory>
+  <vcpu placement='static'>1</vcpu>
+  <os>
+    <type arch='i686'>hvm</type>
+  </os>
+  <clock offset='utc'/>
+  <on_poweroff>destroy</on_poweroff>
+  <on_reboot>restart</on_reboot>
+  <on_crash>destroy</on_crash>
+  <devices>
+    <disk type='block' device='cdrom'>
+      <target dev='hda' bus='ide'/>
+      <address type='drive' controller='0' bus='0' target='0' unit='0'/>
+    </disk>
+    <controller type='ide' index='0'/>
+    <video>
+      <model type='vmvga' vram='4096' primary='yes'/>
+    </video>
+  </devices>
+</domain>
diff --git a/tests/vmx2xmltest.c b/tests/vmx2xmltest.c
index 8d7b8ba2a4ea6d0cbc6d7f5f2e8dcc65a8a76b84..1966aed6fe4be9b7dff4d264ae9afbab9fac9a0e 100644
--- a/tests/vmx2xmltest.c
+++ b/tests/vmx2xmltest.c
@@ -218,6 +218,7 @@ mymain(void)
     DO_TEST("cdrom-scsi-passthru", "cdrom-scsi-passthru");
     DO_TEST("cdrom-ide-file", "cdrom-ide-file");
     DO_TEST("cdrom-ide-empty", "cdrom-ide-empty");
+    DO_TEST("cdrom-ide-empty-2", "cdrom-ide-empty-2");
     DO_TEST("cdrom-ide-device", "cdrom-ide-device");
     DO_TEST("cdrom-ide-raw-device", "cdrom-ide-raw-device");
     DO_TEST("cdrom-ide-raw-auto-detect", "cdrom-ide-raw-auto-detect");