diff --git a/migration/migration.c b/migration/migration.c
index 5421042d4a..627f194b8b 100644
--- a/migration/migration.c
+++ b/migration/migration.c
@@ -3178,9 +3178,6 @@ static MigThrError postcopy_pause(MigrationState *s)
     while (true) {
         QEMUFile *file;
 
-        migrate_set_state(&s->state, s->state,
-                          MIGRATION_STATUS_POSTCOPY_PAUSED);
-
         /* Current channel is possibly broken. Release it. */
         assert(s->to_dst_file);
         qemu_mutex_lock(&s->qemu_file_lock);
@@ -3191,6 +3188,9 @@ static MigThrError postcopy_pause(MigrationState *s)
         qemu_file_shutdown(file);
         qemu_fclose(file);
 
+        migrate_set_state(&s->state, s->state,
+                          MIGRATION_STATUS_POSTCOPY_PAUSED);
+
         error_report("Detected IO failure for postcopy. "
                      "Migration paused.");