diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_conf.c b/src/qemu/qemu_conf.c
index 391fb2c70fea81b2d17b57f48cdab98efbf2c561..7506895b3f3772b2a4ef6a6faeec4f0ed03c8157 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_conf.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_conf.c
@@ -1018,26 +1018,28 @@ qemuGetSharedDeviceKey(const char *device_path)
     return key;
 }
 
-/* Check if a shared device's setting conflicts with the conf
- * used by other domain(s). Currently only checks the sgio
- * setting. Note that this should only be called for disk with
- * block source if the device type is disk.
+/*
+ * Make necessary checks for the need to check and for the current setting
+ * of the 'unpriv_sgio' value for the device_path passed.
  *
- * Returns 0 if no conflicts, otherwise returns -1.
+ * Returns:
+ *  0 - Success
+ * -1 - Some failure which would already have been messaged
+ * -2 - Mismatch with the "shared" sgio setting - needs to be messaged
+ *      by caller since it has context of which type of disk resource is
+ *      being used and in the future the hostdev information.
  */
 static int
-qemuCheckSharedDisk(virHashTablePtr sharedDevices,
-                    virDomainDiskDefPtr disk)
+qemuCheckUnprivSGIO(virHashTablePtr sharedDevices,
+                    const char *device_path,
+                    int sgio)
 {
     char *sysfs_path = NULL;
     char *key = NULL;
     int val;
     int ret = -1;
 
-    if (disk->device != VIR_DOMAIN_DISK_DEVICE_LUN)
-        return 0;
-
-    if (!(sysfs_path = virGetUnprivSGIOSysfsPath(disk->src->path, NULL)))
+    if (!(sysfs_path = virGetUnprivSGIOSysfsPath(device_path, NULL)))
         goto cleanup;
 
     /* It can't be conflict if unpriv_sgio is not supported by kernel. */
@@ -1046,7 +1048,7 @@ qemuCheckSharedDisk(virHashTablePtr sharedDevices,
         goto cleanup;
     }
 
-    if (!(key = qemuGetSharedDeviceKey(disk->src->path)))
+    if (!(key = qemuGetSharedDeviceKey(device_path)))
         goto cleanup;
 
     /* It can't be conflict if no other domain is sharing it. */
@@ -1055,27 +1057,18 @@ qemuCheckSharedDisk(virHashTablePtr sharedDevices,
         goto cleanup;
     }
 
-    if (virGetDeviceUnprivSGIO(disk->src->path, NULL, &val) < 0)
+    if (virGetDeviceUnprivSGIO(device_path, NULL, &val) < 0)
         goto cleanup;
 
+    /* Error message on failure needs to be handled in caller
+     * since there is more specific knowledge of device
+     */
     if (!((val == 0 &&
-           (disk->sgio == VIR_DOMAIN_DEVICE_SGIO_FILTERED ||
-            disk->sgio == VIR_DOMAIN_DEVICE_SGIO_DEFAULT)) ||
+           (sgio == VIR_DOMAIN_DEVICE_SGIO_FILTERED ||
+            sgio == VIR_DOMAIN_DEVICE_SGIO_DEFAULT)) ||
           (val == 1 &&
-           disk->sgio == VIR_DOMAIN_DEVICE_SGIO_UNFILTERED))) {
-
-        if (virDomainDiskGetType(disk) == VIR_STORAGE_TYPE_VOLUME) {
-            virReportError(VIR_ERR_OPERATION_INVALID,
-                           _("sgio of shared disk 'pool=%s' 'volume=%s' conflicts "
-                             "with other active domains"),
-                           disk->src->srcpool->pool,
-                           disk->src->srcpool->volume);
-        } else {
-            virReportError(VIR_ERR_OPERATION_INVALID,
-                           _("sgio of shared disk '%s' conflicts with other "
-                             "active domains"), disk->src->path);
-        }
-
+           sgio == VIR_DOMAIN_DEVICE_SGIO_UNFILTERED))) {
+        ret = -2;
         goto cleanup;
     }
 
@@ -1088,6 +1081,45 @@ qemuCheckSharedDisk(virHashTablePtr sharedDevices,
 }
 
 
+/* Check if a shared device's setting conflicts with the conf
+ * used by other domain(s). Currently only checks the sgio
+ * setting. Note that this should only be called for disk with
+ * block source if the device type is disk.
+ *
+ * Returns 0 if no conflicts, otherwise returns -1.
+ */
+static int
+qemuCheckSharedDisk(virHashTablePtr sharedDevices,
+                    virDomainDiskDefPtr disk)
+{
+    int ret;
+
+    if (disk->device != VIR_DOMAIN_DISK_DEVICE_LUN)
+        return 0;
+
+    if ((ret = qemuCheckUnprivSGIO(sharedDevices, disk->src->path,
+                                   disk->sgio)) < 0) {
+        if (ret == -2) {
+            if (virDomainDiskGetType(disk) == VIR_STORAGE_TYPE_VOLUME) {
+                virReportError(VIR_ERR_OPERATION_INVALID,
+                               _("sgio of shared disk 'pool=%s' 'volume=%s' "
+                                 "conflicts with other active domains"),
+                               disk->src->srcpool->pool,
+                               disk->src->srcpool->volume);
+            } else {
+                virReportError(VIR_ERR_OPERATION_INVALID,
+                               _("sgio of shared disk '%s' conflicts with "
+                                 "other active domains"),
+                               disk->src->path);
+            }
+        }
+        return -1;
+    }
+
+    return 0;
+}
+
+
 bool
 qemuSharedDeviceEntryDomainExists(qemuSharedDeviceEntryPtr entry,
                                   const char *name,