diff --git a/hw/riscv/virt.c b/hw/riscv/virt.c
index cdb88a1529..96b01703a9 100644
--- a/hw/riscv/virt.c
+++ b/hw/riscv/virt.c
@@ -1249,6 +1249,17 @@ static void virt_machine_done(Notifier *notifier, void *data)
     uint64_t kernel_entry = 0;
     BlockBackend *pflash_blk0;
 
+    /* load/create device tree */
+    if (machine->dtb) {
+        machine->fdt = load_device_tree(machine->dtb, &s->fdt_size);
+        if (!machine->fdt) {
+            error_report("load_device_tree() failed");
+            exit(1);
+        }
+    } else {
+        create_fdt(s, memmap);
+    }
+
     /*
      * Only direct boot kernel is currently supported for KVM VM,
      * so the "-bios" parameter is not supported when KVM is enabled.
@@ -1509,17 +1520,6 @@ static void virt_machine_init(MachineState *machine)
     }
     virt_flash_map(s, system_memory);
 
-    /* load/create device tree */
-    if (machine->dtb) {
-        machine->fdt = load_device_tree(machine->dtb, &s->fdt_size);
-        if (!machine->fdt) {
-            error_report("load_device_tree() failed");
-            exit(1);
-        }
-    } else {
-        create_fdt(s, memmap);
-    }
-
     s->machine_done.notify = virt_machine_done;
     qemu_add_machine_init_done_notifier(&s->machine_done);
 }