diff --git a/include/sysemu/numa.h b/include/sysemu/numa.h
index 21713b7e2f..7a0ae751aa 100644
--- a/include/sysemu/numa.h
+++ b/include/sysemu/numa.h
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ struct NumaNodeMem {
 };
 
 extern NodeInfo numa_info[MAX_NODES];
+int parse_numa(void *opaque, QemuOpts *opts, Error **errp);
 void parse_numa_opts(MachineState *ms);
 void numa_complete_configuration(MachineState *ms);
 void query_numa_node_mem(NumaNodeMem node_mem[]);
diff --git a/numa.c b/numa.c
index ad1d7934f2..53bd65a05d 100644
--- a/numa.c
+++ b/numa.c
@@ -169,28 +169,11 @@ static void parse_numa_distance(NumaDistOptions *dist, Error **errp)
     have_numa_distance = true;
 }
 
-static int parse_numa(void *opaque, QemuOpts *opts, Error **errp)
+static
+void set_numa_options(MachineState *ms, NumaOptions *object, Error **errp)
 {
-    NumaOptions *object = NULL;
-    MachineState *ms = opaque;
     Error *err = NULL;
 
-    {
-        Visitor *v = opts_visitor_new(opts);
-        visit_type_NumaOptions(v, NULL, &object, &err);
-        visit_free(v);
-    }
-
-    if (err) {
-        goto end;
-    }
-
-    /* Fix up legacy suffix-less format */
-    if ((object->type == NUMA_OPTIONS_TYPE_NODE) && object->u.node.has_mem) {
-        const char *mem_str = qemu_opt_get(opts, "mem");
-        qemu_strtosz_MiB(mem_str, NULL, &object->u.node.mem);
-    }
-
     switch (object->type) {
     case NUMA_OPTIONS_TYPE_NODE:
         parse_numa_node(ms, &object->u.node, &err);
@@ -223,6 +206,31 @@ static int parse_numa(void *opaque, QemuOpts *opts, Error **errp)
         abort();
     }
 
+end:
+    error_propagate(errp, err);
+}
+
+int parse_numa(void *opaque, QemuOpts *opts, Error **errp)
+{
+    NumaOptions *object = NULL;
+    MachineState *ms = MACHINE(opaque);
+    Error *err = NULL;
+    Visitor *v = opts_visitor_new(opts);
+
+    visit_type_NumaOptions(v, NULL, &object, &err);
+    visit_free(v);
+    if (err) {
+        goto end;
+    }
+
+    /* Fix up legacy suffix-less format */
+    if ((object->type == NUMA_OPTIONS_TYPE_NODE) && object->u.node.has_mem) {
+        const char *mem_str = qemu_opt_get(opts, "mem");
+        qemu_strtosz_MiB(mem_str, NULL, &object->u.node.mem);
+    }
+
+    set_numa_options(ms, object, &err);
+
 end:
     qapi_free_NumaOptions(object);
     if (err) {