diff --git a/hw/net/virtio-net.c b/hw/net/virtio-net.c
index ff82f1017d..c708c03cf6 100644
--- a/hw/net/virtio-net.c
+++ b/hw/net/virtio-net.c
@@ -3173,9 +3173,6 @@ static bool failover_hide_primary_device(DeviceListener *listener,
     hide = qatomic_read(&n->failover_primary_hidden);
     g_free(n->primary_device_id);
     n->primary_device_id = g_strdup(device_opts->id);
-    if (!n->primary_device_id) {
-        warn_report("primary_device_id not set");
-    }
     return hide;
 }
 
diff --git a/softmmu/qdev-monitor.c b/softmmu/qdev-monitor.c
index 0e10f0466f..301089eaea 100644
--- a/softmmu/qdev-monitor.c
+++ b/softmmu/qdev-monitor.c
@@ -613,6 +613,10 @@ DeviceState *qdev_device_add(QemuOpts *opts, Error **errp)
     }
 
     if (qemu_opt_get(opts, "failover_pair_id")) {
+        if (!opts->id) {
+            error_setg(errp, "Device with failover_pair_id don't have id");
+            return NULL;
+        }
         if (qdev_should_hide_device(opts)) {
             if (bus && !qbus_is_hotpluggable(bus)) {
                 error_setg(errp, QERR_BUS_NO_HOTPLUG, bus->name);