diff --git a/hw/arm/virt.c b/hw/arm/virt.c
index 999c1ada79..b661b8d91b 100644
--- a/hw/arm/virt.c
+++ b/hw/arm/virt.c
@@ -204,9 +204,9 @@ static const int a15irqmap[] = {
 };
 
 static const char *valid_cpus[] = {
+#ifdef CONFIG_TCG
     ARM_CPU_TYPE_NAME("cortex-a7"),
     ARM_CPU_TYPE_NAME("cortex-a15"),
-#ifdef CONFIG_TCG
     ARM_CPU_TYPE_NAME("cortex-a35"),
     ARM_CPU_TYPE_NAME("cortex-a55"),
     ARM_CPU_TYPE_NAME("cortex-a72"),
diff --git a/target/arm/meson.build b/target/arm/meson.build
index 3469926295..359a649eaf 100644
--- a/target/arm/meson.build
+++ b/target/arm/meson.build
@@ -5,7 +5,6 @@ arm_ss.add(files(
   'gdbstub.c',
   'helper.c',
   'vfp_helper.c',
-  'cpu_tcg.c',
 ))
 arm_ss.add(zlib)
 
diff --git a/target/arm/cpu_tcg.c b/target/arm/tcg/cpu32.c
similarity index 99%
rename from target/arm/cpu_tcg.c
rename to target/arm/tcg/cpu32.c
index 6ce728134f..a03c819b41 100644
--- a/target/arm/cpu_tcg.c
+++ b/target/arm/tcg/cpu32.c
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * QEMU ARM TCG CPUs.
+ * QEMU ARM TCG-only CPUs.
  *
  * Copyright (c) 2012 SUSE LINUX Products GmbH
  *
@@ -10,9 +10,7 @@
 
 #include "qemu/osdep.h"
 #include "cpu.h"
-#ifdef CONFIG_TCG
 #include "hw/core/tcg-cpu-ops.h"
-#endif /* CONFIG_TCG */
 #include "internals.h"
 #include "target/arm/idau.h"
 #if !defined(CONFIG_USER_ONLY)
@@ -96,7 +94,7 @@ void aa32_max_features(ARMCPU *cpu)
 /* CPU models. These are not needed for the AArch64 linux-user build. */
 #if !defined(CONFIG_USER_ONLY) || !defined(TARGET_AARCH64)
 
-#if !defined(CONFIG_USER_ONLY) && defined(CONFIG_TCG)
+#if !defined(CONFIG_USER_ONLY)
 static bool arm_v7m_cpu_exec_interrupt(CPUState *cs, int interrupt_request)
 {
     CPUClass *cc = CPU_GET_CLASS(cs);
@@ -120,7 +118,7 @@ static bool arm_v7m_cpu_exec_interrupt(CPUState *cs, int interrupt_request)
     }
     return ret;
 }
-#endif /* !CONFIG_USER_ONLY && CONFIG_TCG */
+#endif /* !CONFIG_USER_ONLY */
 
 static void arm926_initfn(Object *obj)
 {
@@ -1016,7 +1014,6 @@ static void pxa270c5_initfn(Object *obj)
     cpu->reset_sctlr = 0x00000078;
 }
 
-#ifdef CONFIG_TCG
 static const struct TCGCPUOps arm_v7m_tcg_ops = {
     .initialize = arm_translate_init,
     .synchronize_from_tb = arm_cpu_synchronize_from_tb,
@@ -1037,7 +1034,6 @@ static const struct TCGCPUOps arm_v7m_tcg_ops = {
     .debug_check_breakpoint = arm_debug_check_breakpoint,
 #endif /* !CONFIG_USER_ONLY */
 };
-#endif /* CONFIG_TCG */
 
 static void arm_v7m_class_init(ObjectClass *oc, void *data)
 {
@@ -1045,10 +1041,7 @@ static void arm_v7m_class_init(ObjectClass *oc, void *data)
     CPUClass *cc = CPU_CLASS(oc);
 
     acc->info = data;
-#ifdef CONFIG_TCG
     cc->tcg_ops = &arm_v7m_tcg_ops;
-#endif /* CONFIG_TCG */
-
     cc->gdb_core_xml_file = "arm-m-profile.xml";
 }
 
diff --git a/target/arm/tcg/cpu64.c b/target/arm/tcg/cpu64.c
index 89d54ec0f6..d0feb3eb52 100644
--- a/target/arm/tcg/cpu64.c
+++ b/target/arm/tcg/cpu64.c
@@ -457,7 +457,7 @@ static void aarch64_neoverse_n1_initfn(Object *obj)
 
 /*
  * -cpu max: a CPU with as many features enabled as our emulation supports.
- * The version of '-cpu max' for qemu-system-arm is defined in cpu_tcg.c;
+ * The version of '-cpu max' for qemu-system-arm is defined in cpu32.c;
  * this only needs to handle 64 bits.
  */
 void aarch64_max_tcg_initfn(Object *obj)
diff --git a/target/arm/tcg/meson.build b/target/arm/tcg/meson.build
index 128f782816..4d99f6dacb 100644
--- a/target/arm/tcg/meson.build
+++ b/target/arm/tcg/meson.build
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ gen = [
 arm_ss.add(gen)
 
 arm_ss.add(files(
+  'cpu32.c',
   'translate.c',
   'translate-m-nocp.c',
   'translate-mve.c',
diff --git a/tests/qtest/arm-cpu-features.c b/tests/qtest/arm-cpu-features.c
index 1cb08138ad..1555b0bab8 100644
--- a/tests/qtest/arm-cpu-features.c
+++ b/tests/qtest/arm-cpu-features.c
@@ -506,9 +506,15 @@ static void test_query_cpu_model_expansion_kvm(const void *data)
         QDict *resp;
         char *error;
 
-        assert_error(qts, "cortex-a15",
-            "We cannot guarantee the CPU type 'cortex-a15' works "
-            "with KVM on this host", NULL);
+        if (qtest_has_accel("tcg")) {
+            assert_error(qts, "cortex-a15",
+                         "We cannot guarantee the CPU type 'cortex-a15' works "
+                         "with KVM on this host", NULL);
+        } else {
+            assert_error(qts, "cortex-a15",
+                         "The CPU type 'cortex-a15' is not a "
+                         "recognized ARM CPU type", NULL);
+        }
 
         assert_has_feature_enabled(qts, "host", "aarch64");
 
