diff --git a/docs/specs/fw_cfg.txt b/docs/specs/fw_cfg.txt
index 9373bbc6474314faf79deeadec10edb8e43dfe91..08c00bdf44a2cca1064356470af2d5438d44e3c9 100644
--- a/docs/specs/fw_cfg.txt
+++ b/docs/specs/fw_cfg.txt
@@ -155,8 +155,8 @@ Selector Reg.    Range Usage
                                  through the DMA interface in QEMU v2.9+)
 0xc000 - 0xffff  Arch. Specific (0x0000 - 0x3fff, RW, ignored in v2.4+)
 
-In practice, the number of allowed firmware configuration items is given
-by the value (FW_CFG_FILE_FIRST + FW_CFG_FILE_SLOTS_MIN) (see fw_cfg.h).
+In practice, the number of allowed firmware configuration items depends on the
+machine type/version.
 
 = Guest-side DMA Interface =
 
diff --git a/hw/nvram/fw_cfg.c b/hw/nvram/fw_cfg.c
index bf75ef71d57e23412fc81c70c82196d36c2c3e28..523d585dcfeda1faa7364567553a21c5b187fc6a 100644
--- a/hw/nvram/fw_cfg.c
+++ b/hw/nvram/fw_cfg.c
@@ -35,6 +35,8 @@
 #include "qemu/cutils.h"
 #include "qapi/error.h"
 
+#define FW_CFG_FILE_SLOTS_DFLT 0x20
+
 #define FW_CFG_NAME "fw_cfg"
 #define FW_CFG_PATH "/machine/" FW_CFG_NAME
 
@@ -1058,7 +1060,7 @@ static Property fw_cfg_io_properties[] = {
     DEFINE_PROP_BOOL("dma_enabled", FWCfgIoState, parent_obj.dma_enabled,
                      true),
     DEFINE_PROP_UINT16("x-file-slots", FWCfgIoState, parent_obj.file_slots,
-                       FW_CFG_FILE_SLOTS_MIN),
+                       FW_CFG_FILE_SLOTS_DFLT),
     DEFINE_PROP_END_OF_LIST(),
 };
 
@@ -1110,7 +1112,7 @@ static Property fw_cfg_mem_properties[] = {
     DEFINE_PROP_BOOL("dma_enabled", FWCfgMemState, parent_obj.dma_enabled,
                      true),
     DEFINE_PROP_UINT16("x-file-slots", FWCfgMemState, parent_obj.file_slots,
-                       FW_CFG_FILE_SLOTS_MIN),
+                       FW_CFG_FILE_SLOTS_DFLT),
     DEFINE_PROP_END_OF_LIST(),
 };
 
diff --git a/include/hw/compat.h b/include/hw/compat.h
index 4fe44d1c7a6ce4f0c3fd6c24bca0974decaf5fac..34e9b4a660d0d926e9e8802637acc010443f269a 100644
--- a/include/hw/compat.h
+++ b/include/hw/compat.h
@@ -2,7 +2,15 @@
 #define HW_COMPAT_H
 
 #define HW_COMPAT_2_8 \
-    /* empty */
+    {\
+        .driver   = "fw_cfg_mem",\
+        .property = "x-file-slots",\
+        .value    = stringify(0x10),\
+    },{\
+        .driver   = "fw_cfg_io",\
+        .property = "x-file-slots",\
+        .value    = stringify(0x10),\
+    },
 
 #define HW_COMPAT_2_7 \
     {\