diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_driver.c b/src/qemu/qemu_driver.c
index 359e0c46f47a5a7be3e0404da2edb14924f43c52..2733b0f2014fd1f532ff7813a2185f2224131991 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_driver.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_driver.c
@@ -3867,7 +3867,7 @@ qemuDomainSaveImageOpen(struct qemud_driver *driver,
                         const char *xmlin, int state, bool edit,
                         bool unlink_corrupt)
 {
-    int fd;
+    int fd = -1;
     struct qemud_save_header header;
     char *xml = NULL;
     virDomainDefPtr def = NULL;