diff --git a/include/hw/virtio/vhost-user-blk.h b/include/hw/virtio/vhost-user-blk.h
index ea085ee1ed..479fcc2a82 100644
--- a/include/hw/virtio/vhost-user-blk.h
+++ b/include/hw/virtio/vhost-user-blk.h
@@ -37,7 +37,6 @@ struct VHostUserBlk {
     struct vhost_dev dev;
     struct vhost_inflight *inflight;
     VhostUserState vhost_user;
-    struct vhost_virtqueue *vhost_vqs;
     VirtQueue **virtqs;
 
     /*
diff --git a/include/hw/virtio/vhost.h b/include/hw/virtio/vhost.h
index f7f10c8fb7..912706668a 100644
--- a/include/hw/virtio/vhost.h
+++ b/include/hw/virtio/vhost.h
@@ -82,6 +82,10 @@ struct vhost_dev {
     MemoryRegionSection *mem_sections;
     int n_tmp_sections;
     MemoryRegionSection *tmp_sections;
+    /**
+     * @vqs - internal to vhost_dev, allocated based on @nvqs
+     * @nvqs - number of @vqs to allocate.
+     */
     struct vhost_virtqueue *vqs;
     unsigned int nvqs;
     /* the first virtqueue which would be used by this vhost dev */
@@ -156,6 +160,9 @@ struct vhost_net {
  * negotiation of backend interface. Configuration of the VirtIO
  * itself won't happen until the interface is started.
  *
+ * If the initialisation fails it will call vhost_dev_cleanup() to
+ * tear down the interface and free memory.
+ *
  * Return: 0 on success, non-zero on error while setting errp.
  */
 int vhost_dev_init(struct vhost_dev *hdev, void *opaque,
@@ -165,6 +172,8 @@ int vhost_dev_init(struct vhost_dev *hdev, void *opaque,
 /**
  * vhost_dev_cleanup() - tear down and cleanup vhost interface
  * @hdev: the common vhost_dev structure
+ *
+ * This includes freeing internals such as @vqs
  */
 void vhost_dev_cleanup(struct vhost_dev *hdev);
 
diff --git a/backends/vhost-user.c b/backends/vhost-user.c
index 94c6a82d52..05a3cf77d0 100644
--- a/backends/vhost-user.c
+++ b/backends/vhost-user.c
@@ -34,7 +34,6 @@ vhost_user_backend_dev_init(VhostUserBackend *b, VirtIODevice *vdev,
 
     b->vdev = vdev;
     b->dev.nvqs = nvqs;
-    b->dev.vqs = g_new0(struct vhost_virtqueue, nvqs);
 
     ret = vhost_dev_init(&b->dev, &b->vhost_user, VHOST_BACKEND_TYPE_USER, 0,
                          errp);
diff --git a/hw/block/vhost-user-blk.c b/hw/block/vhost-user-blk.c
index eecf3f7a81..9221f159ec 100644
--- a/hw/block/vhost-user-blk.c
+++ b/hw/block/vhost-user-blk.c
@@ -332,7 +332,6 @@ static int vhost_user_blk_connect(DeviceState *dev, Error **errp)
 
     s->dev.num_queues = s->num_queues;
     s->dev.nvqs = s->num_queues;
-    s->dev.vqs = s->vhost_vqs;
     s->dev.vq_index = 0;
     s->dev.backend_features = 0;
 
@@ -480,7 +479,6 @@ static void vhost_user_blk_device_realize(DeviceState *dev, Error **errp)
     }
 
     s->inflight = g_new0(struct vhost_inflight, 1);
-    s->vhost_vqs = g_new0(struct vhost_virtqueue, s->num_queues);
 
     retries = REALIZE_CONNECTION_RETRIES;
     assert(!*errp);
@@ -504,8 +502,7 @@ static void vhost_user_blk_device_realize(DeviceState *dev, Error **errp)
     return;
 
 virtio_err:
-    g_free(s->vhost_vqs);
-    s->vhost_vqs = NULL;
+    vhost_dev_cleanup(&s->dev);
     g_free(s->inflight);
     s->inflight = NULL;
     for (i = 0; i < s->num_queues; i++) {
@@ -527,8 +524,6 @@ static void vhost_user_blk_device_unrealize(DeviceState *dev)
                              NULL, NULL, NULL, false);
     vhost_dev_cleanup(&s->dev);
     vhost_dev_free_inflight(s->inflight);
-    g_free(s->vhost_vqs);
-    s->vhost_vqs = NULL;
     g_free(s->inflight);
     s->inflight = NULL;
 
diff --git a/hw/scsi/vhost-scsi.c b/hw/scsi/vhost-scsi.c
index 443f67daa4..aa25cdfcdc 100644
--- a/hw/scsi/vhost-scsi.c
+++ b/hw/scsi/vhost-scsi.c
@@ -214,8 +214,6 @@ static void vhost_scsi_realize(DeviceState *dev, Error **errp)
     }
 
     vsc->dev.nvqs = VHOST_SCSI_VQ_NUM_FIXED + vs->conf.num_queues;
-    vqs = g_new0(struct vhost_virtqueue, vsc->dev.nvqs);
-    vsc->dev.vqs = vqs;
     vsc->dev.vq_index = 0;
     vsc->dev.backend_features = 0;
 
diff --git a/hw/scsi/vhost-user-scsi.c b/hw/scsi/vhost-user-scsi.c
index ee99b19e7a..7e4c20ba42 100644
--- a/hw/scsi/vhost-user-scsi.c
+++ b/hw/scsi/vhost-user-scsi.c
@@ -94,7 +94,6 @@ static void vhost_user_scsi_realize(DeviceState *dev, Error **errp)
     VirtIOSCSICommon *vs = VIRTIO_SCSI_COMMON(dev);
     VHostUserSCSI *s = VHOST_USER_SCSI(dev);
     VHostSCSICommon *vsc = VHOST_SCSI_COMMON(s);
-    struct vhost_virtqueue *vqs = NULL;
     Error *err = NULL;
     int ret;
 
@@ -116,10 +115,8 @@ static void vhost_user_scsi_realize(DeviceState *dev, Error **errp)
     }
 
     vsc->dev.nvqs = VIRTIO_SCSI_VQ_NUM_FIXED + vs->conf.num_queues;
-    vsc->dev.vqs = g_new0(struct vhost_virtqueue, vsc->dev.nvqs);
     vsc->dev.vq_index = 0;
     vsc->dev.backend_features = 0;
-    vqs = vsc->dev.vqs;
 
     ret = vhost_dev_init(&vsc->dev, &s->vhost_user,
                          VHOST_BACKEND_TYPE_USER, 0, errp);
@@ -136,7 +133,6 @@ static void vhost_user_scsi_realize(DeviceState *dev, Error **errp)
 
 free_vhost:
     vhost_user_cleanup(&s->vhost_user);
-    g_free(vqs);
 free_virtio:
     virtio_scsi_common_unrealize(dev);
 }
@@ -146,13 +142,11 @@ static void vhost_user_scsi_unrealize(DeviceState *dev)
     VirtIODevice *vdev = VIRTIO_DEVICE(dev);
     VHostUserSCSI *s = VHOST_USER_SCSI(dev);
     VHostSCSICommon *vsc = VHOST_SCSI_COMMON(s);
-    struct vhost_virtqueue *vqs = vsc->dev.vqs;
 
     /* This will stop the vhost backend. */
     vhost_user_scsi_set_status(vdev, 0);
 
     vhost_dev_cleanup(&vsc->dev);
-    g_free(vqs);
 
     virtio_scsi_common_unrealize(dev);
     vhost_user_cleanup(&s->vhost_user);
diff --git a/hw/virtio/vdpa-dev.c b/hw/virtio/vdpa-dev.c
index 363b625243..c537c0d5f5 100644
--- a/hw/virtio/vdpa-dev.c
+++ b/hw/virtio/vdpa-dev.c
@@ -54,7 +54,6 @@ static void vhost_vdpa_device_realize(DeviceState *dev, Error **errp)
     VhostVdpaDevice *v = VHOST_VDPA_DEVICE(vdev);
     struct vhost_vdpa_iova_range iova_range;
     uint16_t max_queue_size;
-    struct vhost_virtqueue *vqs;
     int i, ret;
 
     if (!v->vhostdev) {
@@ -101,8 +100,6 @@ static void vhost_vdpa_device_realize(DeviceState *dev, Error **errp)
     }
 
     v->dev.nvqs = v->num_queues;
-    vqs = g_new0(struct vhost_virtqueue, v->dev.nvqs);
-    v->dev.vqs = vqs;
     v->dev.vq_index = 0;
     v->dev.vq_index_end = v->dev.nvqs;
     v->dev.backend_features = 0;
@@ -112,7 +109,7 @@ static void vhost_vdpa_device_realize(DeviceState *dev, Error **errp)
     if (ret < 0) {
         error_setg(errp, "vhost-vdpa-device: get iova range failed: %s",
                    strerror(-ret));
-        goto free_vqs;
+        goto out;
     }
     v->vdpa.iova_range = iova_range;
 
@@ -120,7 +117,7 @@ static void vhost_vdpa_device_realize(DeviceState *dev, Error **errp)
     if (ret < 0) {
         error_setg(errp, "vhost-vdpa-device: vhost initialization failed: %s",
                    strerror(-ret));
-        goto free_vqs;
+        goto out;
     }
 
     v->config_size = vhost_vdpa_device_get_u32(v->vhostfd,
@@ -160,8 +157,6 @@ free_config:
     g_free(v->config);
 vhost_cleanup:
     vhost_dev_cleanup(&v->dev);
-free_vqs:
-    g_free(vqs);
 out:
     qemu_close(v->vhostfd);
     v->vhostfd = -1;
diff --git a/hw/virtio/vhost-user-device.c b/hw/virtio/vhost-user-device.c
index d787f52364..0109d4829d 100644
--- a/hw/virtio/vhost-user-device.c
+++ b/hw/virtio/vhost-user-device.c
@@ -288,7 +288,6 @@ static void vub_device_realize(DeviceState *dev, Error **errp)
     }
 
     vub->vhost_dev.nvqs = vub->num_vqs;
-    vub->vhost_dev.vqs = g_new0(struct vhost_virtqueue, vub->vhost_dev.nvqs);
 
     /* connect to backend */
     ret = vhost_dev_init(&vub->vhost_dev, &vub->vhost_user,
@@ -306,12 +305,10 @@ static void vub_device_unrealize(DeviceState *dev)
 {
     VirtIODevice *vdev = VIRTIO_DEVICE(dev);
     VHostUserBase *vub = VHOST_USER_BASE(dev);
-    struct vhost_virtqueue *vhost_vqs = vub->vhost_dev.vqs;
 
     /* This will stop vhost backend if appropriate. */
     vub_set_status(vdev, 0);
     vhost_dev_cleanup(&vub->vhost_dev);
-    g_free(vhost_vqs);
     do_vhost_user_cleanup(vdev, vub);
 }
 
diff --git a/hw/virtio/vhost-user-fs.c b/hw/virtio/vhost-user-fs.c
index 49d699ffc2..b6667f08b0 100644
--- a/hw/virtio/vhost-user-fs.c
+++ b/hw/virtio/vhost-user-fs.c
@@ -248,7 +248,6 @@ static void vuf_device_realize(DeviceState *dev, Error **errp)
 
     /* 1 high prio queue, plus the number configured */
     fs->vhost_dev.nvqs = 1 + fs->conf.num_request_queues;
-    fs->vhost_dev.vqs = g_new0(struct vhost_virtqueue, fs->vhost_dev.nvqs);
     ret = vhost_dev_init(&fs->vhost_dev, &fs->vhost_user,
                          VHOST_BACKEND_TYPE_USER, 0, errp);
     if (ret < 0) {
diff --git a/hw/virtio/vhost.c b/hw/virtio/vhost.c
index 971df8ccc5..4c73ced3b7 100644
--- a/hw/virtio/vhost.c
+++ b/hw/virtio/vhost.c
@@ -1392,6 +1392,8 @@ static bool vhost_init_virtqs(struct vhost_dev *hdev, uint32_t busyloop_timeout,
 {
     int i, r, n_initialized_vqs = 0;
 
+    hdev->vqs = g_new0(struct vhost_virtqueue, hdev->nvqs);
+
     for (i = 0; i < hdev->nvqs; ++i, ++n_initialized_vqs) {
         r = vhost_virtqueue_init(hdev, hdev->vqs + i, hdev->vq_index + i);
         if (r < 0) {
@@ -1530,9 +1532,13 @@ void vhost_dev_cleanup(struct vhost_dev *hdev)
 
     trace_vhost_dev_cleanup(hdev);
 
-    for (i = 0; i < hdev->nvqs; ++i) {
-        vhost_virtqueue_cleanup(hdev->vqs + i);
+    if (hdev->vqs) {
+        for (i = 0; i < hdev->nvqs; ++i) {
+            vhost_virtqueue_cleanup(hdev->vqs + i);
+        }
+        g_free(hdev->vqs);
     }
+
     if (hdev->mem) {
         /* those are only safe after successful init */
         memory_listener_unregister(&hdev->memory_listener);
