diff --git a/tools/virsh-domain.c b/tools/virsh-domain.c
index 41915481be17ed1c87aed2304fd17e872c9f6f27..3f032f419a52585acf8e26956b6845383b717b7c 100644
--- a/tools/virsh-domain.c
+++ b/tools/virsh-domain.c
@@ -6873,7 +6873,7 @@ static bool
 cmdSetvcpus(vshControl *ctl, const vshCmd *cmd)
 {
     virDomainPtr dom;
-    int count = 0;
+    unsigned int count = 0;
     bool ret = false;
     bool maximum = vshCommandOptBool(cmd, "maximum");
     bool config = vshCommandOptBool(cmd, "config");
@@ -6900,9 +6900,14 @@ cmdSetvcpus(vshControl *ctl, const vshCmd *cmd)
     if (!(dom = virshCommandOptDomain(ctl, cmd, NULL)))
         return false;
 
-    if (vshCommandOptInt(ctl, cmd, "count", &count) < 0 || count <= 0)
+    if (vshCommandOptUInt(ctl, cmd, "count", &count) < 0)
         goto cleanup;
 
+    if (count == 0) {
+        vshError(ctl, _("Can't set 0 processors for a VM"));
+        goto cleanup;
+    }
+
     /* none of the options were specified */
     if (!current && flags == 0) {
         if (virDomainSetVcpus(dom, count) != 0)