diff --git a/hw/virtio/virtio-mmio.c b/hw/virtio/virtio-mmio.c
index ef40b7a9b2..872f2cd237 100644
--- a/hw/virtio/virtio-mmio.c
+++ b/hw/virtio/virtio-mmio.c
@@ -308,8 +308,9 @@ static void virtio_mmio_write(void *opaque, hwaddr offset, uint64_t value,
         break;
     case VIRTIO_MMIO_QUEUE_NUM:
         trace_virtio_mmio_queue_write(value, VIRTQUEUE_MAX_SIZE);
+        virtio_queue_set_num(vdev, vdev->queue_sel, value);
+
         if (proxy->legacy) {
-            virtio_queue_set_num(vdev, vdev->queue_sel, value);
             virtio_queue_update_rings(vdev, vdev->queue_sel);
         } else {
             proxy->vqs[vdev->queue_sel].num = value;