diff --git a/tools/virt-host-validate-qemu.c b/tools/virt-host-validate-qemu.c
index 2aa396e3abe8d733610e77514ee55b0cb66257a3..d7573ea8b3ddee0312ff8764d1984a438ea6bc16 100644
--- a/tools/virt-host-validate-qemu.c
+++ b/tools/virt-host-validate-qemu.c
@@ -33,13 +33,14 @@ int virHostValidateQEMU(void)
     int ret = 0;
     bool hasHwVirt = false;
     bool hasVirtFlag = false;
+    virArch arch = virArchFromHost();
     const char *kvmhint = _("Check that CPU and firmware supports virtualization "
                             "and kvm module is loaded");
 
     if (!(flags = virHostValidateGetCPUFlags()))
         return -1;
 
-    switch (virArchFromHost()) {
+    switch ((int)arch) {
     case VIR_ARCH_I686:
     case VIR_ARCH_X86_64:
         hasVirtFlag = true;