diff --git a/hw/nvme/ctrl.c b/hw/nvme/ctrl.c
index 13898d5827..a38f460a78 100644
--- a/hw/nvme/ctrl.c
+++ b/hw/nvme/ctrl.c
@@ -5423,7 +5423,7 @@ static void nvme_free_cq(NvmeCQueue *cq, NvmeCtrl *n)
         event_notifier_set_handler(&cq->notifier, NULL);
         event_notifier_cleanup(&cq->notifier);
     }
-    if (msix_enabled(pci)) {
+    if (msix_enabled(pci) && cq->irq_enabled) {
         msix_vector_unuse(pci, cq->vector);
     }
     if (cq->cqid) {
@@ -5464,9 +5464,10 @@ static void nvme_init_cq(NvmeCQueue *cq, NvmeCtrl *n, uint64_t dma_addr,
 {
     PCIDevice *pci = PCI_DEVICE(n);
 
-    if (msix_enabled(pci)) {
+    if (msix_enabled(pci) && irq_enabled) {
         msix_vector_use(pci, vector);
     }
+
     cq->ctrl = n;
     cq->cqid = cqid;
     cq->size = size;