diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_command.c b/src/qemu/qemu_command.c
index 604650596324f296dd49775d4965d13e6b71647e..68fc137069a5b46afd8127b3733b4b8969fd5659 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_command.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_command.c
@@ -3250,8 +3250,6 @@ qemuBuildMemoryBackendStr(virJSONValuePtr *backendProps,
                           virBitmapPtr autoNodeset,
                           bool force)
 {
-    virDomainHugePagePtr master_hugepage = NULL;
-    virDomainHugePagePtr hugepage = NULL;
     virDomainNumatuneMemMode mode;
     const long system_page_size = virGetSystemPageSizeKB();
     virDomainMemoryAccess memAccess = mem->access;
@@ -3264,6 +3262,13 @@ qemuBuildMemoryBackendStr(virJSONValuePtr *backendProps,
     bool nodeSpecified = virDomainNumatuneNodeSpecified(def->numa, mem->targetNode);
     unsigned long long pagesize = mem->pagesize;
     bool needHugepage = !!pagesize;
+    bool useHugepage = !!pagesize;
+
+    /* The difference between @needHugepage and @useHugepage is that the latter
+     * is true whenever huge page is defined for the current memory cell.
+     * Either directly, or transitively via global domain huge pages. The
+     * former is true whenever "memory-backend-file" must be used to satisfy
+     * @useHugepage. */
 
     *backendProps = NULL;
     *backendType = NULL;
@@ -3290,6 +3295,8 @@ qemuBuildMemoryBackendStr(virJSONValuePtr *backendProps,
         mode = VIR_DOMAIN_NUMATUNE_MEM_STRICT;
 
     if (pagesize == 0) {
+        virDomainHugePagePtr master_hugepage = NULL;
+        virDomainHugePagePtr hugepage = NULL;
         bool thisHugepage = false;
 
         /* Find the huge page size we want to use */
@@ -3327,8 +3334,10 @@ qemuBuildMemoryBackendStr(virJSONValuePtr *backendProps,
             hugepage = master_hugepage;
         }
 
-        if (hugepage)
+        if (hugepage) {
             pagesize = hugepage->size;
+            useHugepage = true;
+        }
     }
 
     if (pagesize == system_page_size) {
@@ -3336,17 +3345,18 @@ qemuBuildMemoryBackendStr(virJSONValuePtr *backendProps,
          * of regular system page size, it's as if they
          * hasn't specified any huge pages at all. */
         pagesize = 0;
-        hugepage = NULL;
+        needHugepage = false;
+        useHugepage = false;
     }
 
     if (!(props = virJSONValueNewObject()))
         return -1;
 
-    if (pagesize || mem->nvdimmPath || memAccess ||
+    if (useHugepage || mem->nvdimmPath || memAccess ||
         def->mem.source == VIR_DOMAIN_MEMORY_SOURCE_FILE) {
         *backendType = "memory-backend-file";
 
-        if (pagesize) {
+        if (useHugepage) {
             if (qemuGetDomainHupageMemPath(def, cfg, pagesize, &memPath) < 0)
                 goto cleanup;
             prealloc = true;
diff --git a/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/qemuxml2argv-hugepages-pages7.args b/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/qemuxml2argv-hugepages-pages7.args
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..e4229dce6e62abe2d4c65ecff939ed221e99a863
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/qemuxml2argv-hugepages-pages7.args
@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+LC_ALL=C \
+PATH=/bin \
+HOME=/home/test \
+USER=test \
+LOGNAME=test \
+QEMU_AUDIO_DRV=none \
+/usr/bin/qemu-system-x86_64 \
+-name fedora \
+-S \
+-M pc-i440fx-2.3 \
+-m size=1048576k,slots=16,maxmem=1099511627776k \
+-smp 2,sockets=2,cores=1,threads=1 \
+-mem-prealloc \
+-mem-path /dev/hugepages2M/libvirt/qemu/-1-fedora \
+-numa node,nodeid=0,cpus=0-1,mem=1024 \
+-object memory-backend-file,id=memdimm0,prealloc=yes,\
+mem-path=/dev/hugepages1G/libvirt/qemu/-1-fedora,size=1073741824,\
+host-nodes=1-3,policy=bind \
+-device pc-dimm,node=0,memdev=memdimm0,id=dimm0,slot=0 \
+-object memory-backend-file,id=memdimm1,prealloc=yes,\
+mem-path=/dev/hugepages2M/libvirt/qemu/-1-fedora,share=no,size=536870912 \
+-device pc-dimm,node=0,memdev=memdimm1,id=dimm1,slot=1 \
+-uuid 63840878-0deb-4095-97e6-fc444d9bc9fa \
+-nographic \
+-nodefaults \
+-chardev socket,id=charmonitor,path=/tmp/lib/domain--1-fedora/monitor.sock,\
+server,nowait \
+-mon chardev=charmonitor,id=monitor,mode=readline \
+-boot c \
+-usb \
+-drive file=/var/lib/libvirt/images/fedora.qcow2,format=qcow2,if=none,\
+id=drive-virtio-disk0 \
+-device virtio-blk-pci,bus=pci.0,addr=0x7,drive=drive-virtio-disk0,\
+id=virtio-disk0 \
+-device virtio-balloon-pci,id=balloon0,bus=pci.0,addr=0x3
diff --git a/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/qemuxml2argv-hugepages-pages7.xml b/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/qemuxml2argv-hugepages-pages7.xml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..d75cf5afa343c75eab85417efc43aa735d72b1ab
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/qemuxml2argv-hugepages-pages7.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,65 @@
+<domain type='qemu'>
+  <name>fedora</name>
+  <uuid>63840878-0deb-4095-97e6-fc444d9bc9fa</uuid>
+  <maxMemory slots='16' unit='KiB'>1099511627776</maxMemory>
+  <memory unit='KiB'>2621439</memory>
+  <currentMemory unit='KiB'>2621439</currentMemory>
+  <memoryBacking>
+    <hugepages/>
+  </memoryBacking>
+  <vcpu placement='static'>2</vcpu>
+  <os>
+    <type arch='x86_64' machine='pc-i440fx-2.3'>hvm</type>
+    <boot dev='hd'/>
+  </os>
+  <features>
+    <acpi/>
+    <apic/>
+    <pae/>
+  </features>
+  <cpu>
+    <numa>
+      <cell id='0' cpus='0-1' memory='1048576' unit='KiB'/>
+    </numa>
+  </cpu>
+  <clock offset='utc'/>
+  <on_poweroff>destroy</on_poweroff>
+  <on_reboot>restart</on_reboot>
+  <on_crash>restart</on_crash>
+  <devices>
+    <emulator>/usr/bin/qemu-system-x86_64</emulator>
+    <disk type='file' device='disk'>
+      <driver name='qemu' type='qcow2'/>
+      <source file='/var/lib/libvirt/images/fedora.qcow2'/>
+      <target dev='vda' bus='virtio'/>
+      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x07' function='0x0'/>
+    </disk>
+    <controller type='usb' index='0'>
+      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x01' function='0x2'/>
+    </controller>
+    <controller type='pci' index='0' model='pci-root'/>
+    <input type='mouse' bus='ps2'/>
+    <input type='keyboard' bus='ps2'/>
+    <memballoon model='virtio'>
+      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x03' function='0x0'/>
+    </memballoon>
+    <memory model='dimm'>
+      <source>
+        <nodemask>1-3</nodemask>
+        <pagesize unit='KiB'>1048576</pagesize>
+      </source>
+      <target>
+        <size unit='KiB'>1048576</size>
+        <node>0</node>
+      </target>
+      <address type='dimm' slot='0'/>
+    </memory>
+    <memory model='dimm' access='private'>
+      <target>
+        <size unit='KiB'>524287</size>
+        <node>0</node>
+      </target>
+      <address type='dimm' slot='1'/>
+    </memory>
+  </devices>
+</domain>
diff --git a/tests/qemuxml2argvtest.c b/tests/qemuxml2argvtest.c
index 655c89bc3ed024f9b0bc462854d2e93ed937e95d..9938052310af73f3c2e2e8185e1da6c000396675 100644
--- a/tests/qemuxml2argvtest.c
+++ b/tests/qemuxml2argvtest.c
@@ -844,6 +844,8 @@ mymain(void)
             QEMU_CAPS_OBJECT_MEMORY_RAM, QEMU_CAPS_OBJECT_MEMORY_FILE);
     DO_TEST("hugepages-pages5", QEMU_CAPS_MEM_PATH);
     DO_TEST("hugepages-pages6", NONE);
+    DO_TEST("hugepages-pages7", QEMU_CAPS_MEM_PATH,
+            QEMU_CAPS_DEVICE_PC_DIMM, QEMU_CAPS_OBJECT_MEMORY_FILE);
     DO_TEST("hugepages-memaccess", QEMU_CAPS_OBJECT_MEMORY_FILE,
             QEMU_CAPS_OBJECT_MEMORY_RAM, QEMU_CAPS_DEVICE_PC_DIMM,
             QEMU_CAPS_NUMA);
diff --git a/tests/qemuxml2xmloutdata/qemuxml2xmlout-hugepages-pages7.xml b/tests/qemuxml2xmloutdata/qemuxml2xmlout-hugepages-pages7.xml
new file mode 120000
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..9aafa6e9580227912dd7e040a72dd16452239bc7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/qemuxml2xmloutdata/qemuxml2xmlout-hugepages-pages7.xml
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+../qemuxml2argvdata/qemuxml2argv-hugepages-pages7.xml
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/tests/qemuxml2xmltest.c b/tests/qemuxml2xmltest.c
index 0d549adecf93e50f9374bdd7e477f1202d1981da..311b7135651e0245f87d2b05cce623e3685c22fe 100644
--- a/tests/qemuxml2xmltest.c
+++ b/tests/qemuxml2xmltest.c
@@ -433,6 +433,7 @@ mymain(void)
     DO_TEST("hugepages-pages4", NONE);
     DO_TEST("hugepages-pages5", NONE);
     DO_TEST("hugepages-pages6", NONE);
+    DO_TEST("hugepages-pages7", NONE);
     DO_TEST("hugepages-shared", NONE);
     DO_TEST("hugepages-memaccess", NONE);
     DO_TEST("hugepages-memaccess2", NONE);