diff --git a/docs/formatstorage.html.in b/docs/formatstorage.html.in
index 0356182127614f6a51c0383f66af100668e3926c..94277a15ec29b3946fee29fa9e1cbe3c5d79fbd0 100644
--- a/docs/formatstorage.html.in
+++ b/docs/formatstorage.html.in
@@ -134,19 +134,11 @@
         <code>path</code> may be supplied. Valid values for the attribute
         may be either "yes" or "no". This attribute is to be used for a
         <code>disk</code> pool type using a <code>path</code> to a
-        device mapper multipath device configured to utilize either
-        'user_friendly_names' or a custom 'alias' name in the
-        /etc/multipath.conf. The attribute directs libvirt to not
-        generate device volume names with the partition character "p".
-        By default, when libvirt generates the partition names for
-        device mapper multipath devices it will add a "p" path separator
-        to the device name before adding the partition number. For example,
-        a <code>device path</code> of '/dev/mapper/mpatha' libvirt would
-        generate partition names of '/dev/mapper/mpathap1',
-        '/dev/mapper/mpathap2', etc. for each partition found. With
-        this attribute set to "no", libvirt will not append the "p" to
-        the name unless it ends with a number thus generating names
-        of '/dev/mapper/mpatha1', '/dev/mapper/mpatha2', etc.
+        device mapper multipath device. Setting the attribute to "yes"
+        causes libvirt to attempt to generate and find target volume path's
+        using a "p" separator. The default algorithm used by device mapper
+        is to add the "p" separator only when the source device path ends
+        with a number.
         <span class="since">Since 1.3.1</span></p></dd>
       <dt><code>dir</code></dt>
       <dd>Provides the source for pools backed by directories (pool
diff --git a/src/storage/parthelper.c b/src/storage/parthelper.c
index 6695f23896c9fca65c28ce71e2654368be26ec84..d81b1779b683abbb6d2cdf7a3a841f63b7641284 100644
--- a/src/storage/parthelper.c
+++ b/src/storage/parthelper.c
@@ -69,7 +69,7 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
     const char *path;
     char *canonical_path;
     const char *partsep;
-    bool devmap_nopartsep = false;
+    bool devmap_partsep = false;
 
     if (virGettextInitialize() < 0)
         exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
@@ -77,7 +77,7 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
     if (argc == 3 && STREQ(argv[2], "-g")) {
         cmd = DISK_GEOMETRY;
     } else if (argc == 3 && STREQ(argv[2], "-p")) {
-        devmap_nopartsep = true;
+        devmap_partsep = true;
     } else if (argc != 2) {
         fprintf(stderr, _("syntax: %s DEVICE [-g]|[-p]\n"), argv[0]);
         return 1;
@@ -85,10 +85,11 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
 
     path = argv[1];
     if (virIsDevMapperDevice(path)) {
-        /* The 'devmap_nopartsep' option will not append the partsep of "p"
-         * onto the name unless the 'path' ends in a number
+        /* If the path ends with a number or we explicitly request it for
+         * path, then append the "p" partition separator. Otherwise, if
+         * the path ends with a letter already, then no need for a separator.
          */
-        if (c_isdigit(path[strlen(path)-1]) || !devmap_nopartsep)
+        if (c_isdigit(path[strlen(path)-1]) || devmap_partsep)
             partsep = "p";
         else
             partsep = "";
diff --git a/src/storage/storage_backend_disk.c b/src/storage/storage_backend_disk.c
index 3e0395dec9790f1575311d750eba26ba8f55814f..eadf8a37cf7154c89f9abf7fd76af0b832a504af 100644
--- a/src/storage/storage_backend_disk.c
+++ b/src/storage/storage_backend_disk.c
@@ -325,13 +325,14 @@ virStorageBackendDiskReadPartitions(virStoragePoolObjPtr pool,
                                pool->def->source.devices[0].path,
                                NULL);
 
-    /* Check for the presence of the part_separator='no'. Pass this
+    /* Check for the presence of the part_separator='yes'. Pass this
      * along to the libvirt_parthelper as option '-p'. This will cause
-     * libvirt_parthelper to not append the "p" partition separator to
-     * the generated device name, unless the name ends with a number.
+     * libvirt_parthelper to append the "p" partition separator to
+     * the generated device name for a source device which ends with
+     * a non-numeric value (e.g. mpatha would generate mpathap#).
      */
     if (pool->def->source.devices[0].part_separator ==
-        VIR_TRISTATE_BOOL_NO)
+        VIR_TRISTATE_BOOL_YES)
         virCommandAddArg(cmd, "-p");
 
     /* If a volume is passed, virStorageBackendDiskMakeVol only updates the