diff --git a/softmmu/vl.c b/softmmu/vl.c
index 9451f2425c..ce5a3e4a65 100644
--- a/softmmu/vl.c
+++ b/softmmu/vl.c
@@ -3007,7 +3007,6 @@ void qemu_init(int argc, char **argv, char **envp)
             fake_argv[fake_argc++] = g_strdup_printf("smbus-storage,file=%s",
                                                      escaped_eeprom_path);
             free(escaped_eeprom_path);
-            free((char*)eeprom_path);
         } else {
             char *msg = g_strdup_printf("Failed to generate eeprom file '%s'. Please check machine settings.", eeprom_path);
             xemu_queue_error_message(msg);
diff --git a/ui/xemu-settings.c b/ui/xemu-settings.c
index 90b82bf52c..a464f84e7c 100644
--- a/ui/xemu-settings.c
+++ b/ui/xemu-settings.c
@@ -218,6 +218,11 @@ const char *xemu_settings_get_path(void)
 
 const char *xemu_settings_get_default_eeprom_path(void)
 {
+	static char *eeprom_path = NULL;
+	if (eeprom_path != NULL) {
+		return eeprom_path;
+	}
+
 	char *base = SDL_GetPrefPath("xemu", "xemu");
 	assert(base != NULL);
 	size_t base_len = strlen(base);
@@ -238,7 +243,8 @@ const char *xemu_settings_get_default_eeprom_path(void)
 	memcpy(path+base_len, name, name_len);
 	path[final_len-1] = '\0';
 
-	return path;
+	eeprom_path = path;
+	return eeprom_path;
 }
 
 static int xemu_enum_str_to_int(const struct enum_str_map *map, const char *str, int *value)