diff --git a/configure b/configure
index 1443422e83..479e9a787e 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -3761,7 +3761,7 @@ fi
 fdt_required=no
 for target in $target_list; do
   case $target in
-    aarch64*-softmmu|arm*-softmmu|ppc*-softmmu|microblaze*-softmmu|mips64el-softmmu)
+    aarch64*-softmmu|arm*-softmmu|ppc*-softmmu|microblaze*-softmmu|mips64el-softmmu|riscv*-softmmu)
       fdt_required=yes
     ;;
   esac
diff --git a/hw/riscv/riscv_htif.c b/hw/riscv/riscv_htif.c
index 3e17f30251..f73512941f 100644
--- a/hw/riscv/riscv_htif.c
+++ b/hw/riscv/riscv_htif.c
@@ -41,17 +41,20 @@
     } while (0)
 
 static uint64_t fromhost_addr, tohost_addr;
+static int address_symbol_set;
 
 void htif_symbol_callback(const char *st_name, int st_info, uint64_t st_value,
-    uint64_t st_size)
+                          uint64_t st_size)
 {
     if (strcmp("fromhost", st_name) == 0) {
+        address_symbol_set |= 1;
         fromhost_addr = st_value;
         if (st_size != 8) {
             error_report("HTIF fromhost must be 8 bytes");
             exit(1);
         }
     } else if (strcmp("tohost", st_name) == 0) {
+        address_symbol_set |= 2;
         tohost_addr = st_value;
         if (st_size != 8) {
             error_report("HTIF tohost must be 8 bytes");
@@ -248,10 +251,11 @@ HTIFState *htif_mm_init(MemoryRegion *address_space, MemoryRegion *main_mem,
     qemu_chr_fe_init(&s->chr, chr, &error_abort);
     qemu_chr_fe_set_handlers(&s->chr, htif_can_recv, htif_recv, htif_event,
         htif_be_change, s, NULL, true);
-    if (base) {
+    if (address_symbol_set == 3) {
         memory_region_init_io(&s->mmio, NULL, &htif_mm_ops, s,
-                            TYPE_HTIF_UART, size);
-        memory_region_add_subregion(address_space, base, &s->mmio);
+                              TYPE_HTIF_UART, size);
+        memory_region_add_subregion_overlap(address_space, base,
+                                            &s->mmio, 1);
     }
 
     return s;