diff --git a/include/sysemu/arch_init.h b/include/sysemu/arch_init.h
index e723c467eb..7acfc62418 100644
--- a/include/sysemu/arch_init.h
+++ b/include/sysemu/arch_init.h
@@ -30,7 +30,6 @@ enum {
 extern const uint32_t arch_type;
 
 int kvm_available(void);
-int xen_available(void);
 
 /* default virtio transport per architecture */
 #define QEMU_ARCH_VIRTIO_PCI (QEMU_ARCH_ALPHA | QEMU_ARCH_ARM | \
diff --git a/softmmu/arch_init.c b/softmmu/arch_init.c
index 6ff9f30bad..3f4d7c1b1c 100644
--- a/softmmu/arch_init.c
+++ b/softmmu/arch_init.c
@@ -96,12 +96,3 @@ int kvm_available(void)
     return 0;
 #endif
 }
-
-int xen_available(void)
-{
-#ifdef CONFIG_XEN
-    return 1;
-#else
-    return 0;
-#endif
-}
diff --git a/softmmu/vl.c b/softmmu/vl.c
index 5ca11e7469..82d574fe4b 100644
--- a/softmmu/vl.c
+++ b/softmmu/vl.c
@@ -3448,21 +3448,21 @@ void qemu_init(int argc, char **argv, char **envp)
                 has_defaults = 0;
                 break;
             case QEMU_OPTION_xen_domid:
-                if (!(xen_available())) {
+                if (!(accel_find("xen"))) {
                     error_report("Option not supported for this target");
                     exit(1);
                 }
                 xen_domid = atoi(optarg);
                 break;
             case QEMU_OPTION_xen_attach:
-                if (!(xen_available())) {
+                if (!(accel_find("xen"))) {
                     error_report("Option not supported for this target");
                     exit(1);
                 }
                 xen_mode = XEN_ATTACH;
                 break;
             case QEMU_OPTION_xen_domid_restrict:
-                if (!(xen_available())) {
+                if (!(accel_find("xen"))) {
                     error_report("Option not supported for this target");
                     exit(1);
                 }