diff --git a/include/hw/hw.h b/include/hw/hw.h
index e22d4ce5faad3fda09ba38ff2b84ae9ebbf4d611..af9eae11c51667c71bf9ec740bc7f9311d1f9061 100644
--- a/include/hw/hw.h
+++ b/include/hw/hw.h
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@
 #include "exec/memory.h"
 #include "hw/irq.h"
 #include "migration/vmstate.h"
+#include "migration/qemu-file.h"
 #include "qemu/module.h"
 #include "sysemu/reset.h"
 
diff --git a/include/migration/vmstate.h b/include/migration/vmstate.h
index dacb052551a2b3ee372c0c3e9d199c40f0239735..f97411d31ff2e0376715d134510451d037f1bc68 100644
--- a/include/migration/vmstate.h
+++ b/include/migration/vmstate.h
@@ -27,9 +27,6 @@
 #ifndef QEMU_VMSTATE_H
 #define QEMU_VMSTATE_H
 
-#ifndef CONFIG_USER_ONLY
-#include "migration/qemu-file.h"
-#endif
 #include "migration/qjson.h"
 
 typedef void SaveStateHandler(QEMUFile *f, void *opaque);
diff --git a/migration/block.c b/migration/block.c
index 5d229264bf07073a005535c417cd9b47c5145165..5baf46d0e345b626d5162389ca387c48fe97f96c 100644
--- a/migration/block.c
+++ b/migration/block.c
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@
 #include "migration/block.h"
 #include "migration/migration.h"
 #include "sysemu/blockdev.h"
+#include "migration/qemu-file.h"
 #include "sysemu/block-backend.h"
 
 #define BLOCK_SIZE                       (1 << 20)
diff --git a/migration/colo.c b/migration/colo.c
index 73ebd64cbbb6022bf885ce94e7ad9dc88af44115..929b31c50c23a7d103935b9e02a514374aaac2fe 100644
--- a/migration/colo.c
+++ b/migration/colo.c
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@
 #include "sysemu/sysemu.h"
 #include "qemu-file-channel.h"
 #include "migration/migration.h"
+#include "migration/qemu-file.h"
 #include "migration/colo.h"
 #include "migration/block.h"
 #include "io/channel-buffer.h"
diff --git a/migration/postcopy-ram.c b/migration/postcopy-ram.c
index 63b850128e2f0750ac2af33532abfcac842a40a6..0e2a996168413acbc44b9b7c19bc4a20794c2202 100644
--- a/migration/postcopy-ram.c
+++ b/migration/postcopy-ram.c
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@
 
 #include "qemu-common.h"
 #include "migration/migration.h"
+#include "migration/qemu-file.h"
 #include "postcopy-ram.h"
 #include "sysemu/sysemu.h"
 #include "sysemu/balloon.h"
diff --git a/migration/ram.c b/migration/ram.c
index c14269fd16858e2a65bacbe4de547453dba17945..8ce8c07a687c0b1b8df4aa1eb98dc42cdf6ddc16 100644
--- a/migration/ram.c
+++ b/migration/ram.c
@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@
 #include "qemu/main-loop.h"
 #include "xbzrle.h"
 #include "migration/migration.h"
+#include "migration/qemu-file.h"
 #include "postcopy-ram.h"
 #include "exec/address-spaces.h"
 #include "migration/page_cache.h"
diff --git a/tests/test-vmstate.c b/tests/test-vmstate.c
index 1c135708f4684ce4d260eb3a024d33ad84044978..25389bcce4a9ebe07035ed3279ae85fc7a02bfdc 100644
--- a/tests/test-vmstate.c
+++ b/tests/test-vmstate.c
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@
 #include "qemu-common.h"
 #include "migration/migration.h"
 #include "migration/vmstate.h"
+#include "migration/qemu-file.h"
 #include "../migration/qemu-file-channel.h"
 #include "qemu/coroutine.h"
 #include "io/channel-file.h"