diff --git a/hw/vfio/container-base.c b/hw/vfio/container-base.c
index 24669d4d74..970ae2356a 100644
--- a/hw/vfio/container-base.c
+++ b/hw/vfio/container-base.c
@@ -83,11 +83,6 @@ int vfio_container_query_dirty_bitmap(const VFIOContainerBase *bcontainer,
                                                errp);
 }
 
-void vfio_container_init(VFIOContainerBase *bcontainer,
-                         const VFIOIOMMUClass *ops)
-{
-}
-
 void vfio_container_destroy(VFIOContainerBase *bcontainer)
 {
     VFIOGuestIOMMU *giommu, *tmp;
diff --git a/hw/vfio/container.c b/hw/vfio/container.c
index a2f5fbad00..3f2032d5c4 100644
--- a/hw/vfio/container.c
+++ b/hw/vfio/container.c
@@ -419,7 +419,6 @@ static VFIOContainer *vfio_create_container(int fd, VFIOGroup *group,
                                             Error **errp)
 {
     int iommu_type;
-    const VFIOIOMMUClass *vioc;
     const char *vioc_name;
     VFIOContainer *container;
 
@@ -433,12 +432,10 @@ static VFIOContainer *vfio_create_container(int fd, VFIOGroup *group,
     }
 
     vioc_name = vfio_get_iommu_class_name(iommu_type);
-    vioc = VFIO_IOMMU_CLASS(object_class_by_name(vioc_name));
 
     container = VFIO_IOMMU_LEGACY(object_new(vioc_name));
     container->fd = fd;
     container->iommu_type = iommu_type;
-    vfio_container_init(&container->bcontainer, vioc);
     return container;
 }
 
diff --git a/hw/vfio/iommufd.c b/hw/vfio/iommufd.c
index 7bc76f80b4..09b71a6617 100644
--- a/hw/vfio/iommufd.c
+++ b/hw/vfio/iommufd.c
@@ -357,7 +357,6 @@ static bool iommufd_cdev_attach(const char *name, VFIODevice *vbasedev,
     container->ioas_id = ioas_id;
 
     bcontainer = &container->bcontainer;
-    vfio_container_init(bcontainer, iommufd_vioc);
     vfio_address_space_insert(space, bcontainer);
 
     if (!iommufd_cdev_attach_container(vbasedev, container, errp)) {
diff --git a/include/hw/vfio/vfio-container-base.h b/include/hw/vfio/vfio-container-base.h
index 6b57cd8e7f..6242a62771 100644
--- a/include/hw/vfio/vfio-container-base.h
+++ b/include/hw/vfio/vfio-container-base.h
@@ -86,8 +86,6 @@ int vfio_container_set_dirty_page_tracking(VFIOContainerBase *bcontainer,
 int vfio_container_query_dirty_bitmap(const VFIOContainerBase *bcontainer,
                    VFIOBitmap *vbmap, hwaddr iova, hwaddr size, Error **errp);
 
-void vfio_container_init(VFIOContainerBase *bcontainer,
-                         const VFIOIOMMUClass *ops);
 void vfio_container_destroy(VFIOContainerBase *bcontainer);