diff --git a/hw/hw.h b/hw/hw.h
index a0cb94e79bf758f8211778a53efa31648bd6679f..c70397503507c86df385cbafc7a79351357c8f17 100644
--- a/hw/hw.h
+++ b/hw/hw.h
@@ -509,5 +509,5 @@ extern void vmstate_save_state(QEMUFile *f, const VMStateDescription *vmsd,
                                const void *opaque);
 extern int vmstate_register(int instance_id, const VMStateDescription *vmsd,
                             void *base);
-extern void vmstate_unregister(const char *idstr, void *opaque);
+void vmstate_unregister(const VMStateDescription *vmsd, void *opaque);
 #endif
diff --git a/savevm.c b/savevm.c
index 0dcab79398d045d22dda30b034dc9b7d0c8f56d7..7b0989ff3799b2a7f7807d4afa8da9e13434e34a 100644
--- a/savevm.c
+++ b/savevm.c
@@ -1002,9 +1002,16 @@ int vmstate_register(int instance_id, const VMStateDescription *vmsd,
     return 0;
 }
 
-void vmstate_unregister(const char *idstr,  void *opaque)
+void vmstate_unregister(const VMStateDescription *vmsd, void *opaque)
 {
-    unregister_savevm(idstr, opaque);
+    SaveStateEntry *se, *new_se;
+
+    TAILQ_FOREACH_SAFE(se, &savevm_handlers, entry, new_se) {
+        if (se->vmsd == vmsd && se->opaque == opaque) {
+            TAILQ_REMOVE(&savevm_handlers, se, entry);
+            qemu_free(se);
+        }
+    }
 }
 
 int vmstate_load_state(QEMUFile *f, const VMStateDescription *vmsd,