diff --git a/qga/commands.c b/qga/commands.c
index 690da0073d..7ff551d092 100644
--- a/qga/commands.c
+++ b/qga/commands.c
@@ -18,7 +18,6 @@
 #include "qapi/qmp/qerror.h"
 #include "qemu/base64.h"
 #include "qemu/cutils.h"
-#include "qemu/atomic.h"
 #include "commands-common.h"
 
 /* Maximum captured guest-exec out_data/err_data - 16MB */
@@ -162,13 +161,12 @@ GuestExecStatus *qmp_guest_exec_status(int64_t pid, Error **errp)
 
     ges = g_new0(GuestExecStatus, 1);
 
-    bool finished = qatomic_mb_read(&gei->finished);
+    bool finished = gei->finished;
 
     /* need to wait till output channels are closed
      * to be sure we captured all output at this point */
     if (gei->has_output) {
-        finished = finished && qatomic_mb_read(&gei->out.closed);
-        finished = finished && qatomic_mb_read(&gei->err.closed);
+        finished &= gei->out.closed && gei->err.closed;
     }
 
     ges->exited = finished;
@@ -270,7 +268,7 @@ static void guest_exec_child_watch(GPid pid, gint status, gpointer data)
             (int32_t)gpid_to_int64(pid), (uint32_t)status);
 
     gei->status = status;
-    qatomic_mb_set(&gei->finished, true);
+    gei->finished = true;
 
     g_spawn_close_pid(pid);
 }
@@ -326,7 +324,7 @@ static gboolean guest_exec_input_watch(GIOChannel *ch,
 done:
     g_io_channel_shutdown(ch, true, NULL);
     g_io_channel_unref(ch);
-    qatomic_mb_set(&p->closed, true);
+    p->closed = true;
     g_free(p->data);
 
     return false;
@@ -380,7 +378,7 @@ static gboolean guest_exec_output_watch(GIOChannel *ch,
 close:
     g_io_channel_shutdown(ch, true, NULL);
     g_io_channel_unref(ch);
-    qatomic_mb_set(&p->closed, true);
+    p->closed = true;
     return false;
 }