diff --git a/hw/vfio/pci.c b/hw/vfio/pci.c
index 73874a94de..8fb2c53a63 100644
--- a/hw/vfio/pci.c
+++ b/hw/vfio/pci.c
@@ -663,6 +663,8 @@ static void vfio_msi_enable(VFIOPCIDevice *vdev)
 
     vfio_disable_interrupts(vdev);
 
+    vdev->nr_vectors = msi_nr_vectors_allocated(&vdev->pdev);
+retry:
     /*
      * Setting vector notifiers needs to enable route for each vector.
      * Deferring to commit the KVM routes once rather than per vector
@@ -670,8 +672,6 @@ static void vfio_msi_enable(VFIOPCIDevice *vdev)
      */
     vfio_prepare_kvm_msi_virq_batch(vdev);
 
-    vdev->nr_vectors = msi_nr_vectors_allocated(&vdev->pdev);
-retry:
     vdev->msi_vectors = g_new0(VFIOMSIVector, vdev->nr_vectors);
 
     for (i = 0; i < vdev->nr_vectors; i++) {