diff --git a/src/vmx/vmx.c b/src/vmx/vmx.c
index 10fec74..4fd0a1d 100644
--- a/src/vmx/vmx.c
+++ b/src/vmx/vmx.c
@@ -2234,6 +2234,7 @@ virVMXParseDisk(virVMXContext *ctx, virDomainXMLOptionPtr xmlopt, virConfPtr con
                 (*def)->transient = STRCASEEQ(mode,
                                               "independent-nonpersistent");
         } else if (virFileHasSuffix(fileName, ".iso") ||
+                   STREQ(fileName, "emptyBackingString") ||
                    (deviceType &&
                     (STRCASEEQ(deviceType, "atapi-cdrom") ||
                      STRCASEEQ(deviceType, "cdrom-raw") ||
@@ -2246,16 +2247,6 @@ virVMXParseDisk(virVMXContext *ctx, virDomainXMLOptionPtr xmlopt, virConfPtr con
              * call to this function to parse a CDROM device may handle it.
              */
             goto ignore;
-        } else if (STREQ(fileName, "emptyBackingString")) {
-            if (deviceType && STRCASENEQ(deviceType, "cdrom-image")) {
-                virReportError(VIR_ERR_INTERNAL_ERROR,
-                               _("Expecting VMX entry '%s' to be 'cdrom-image' "
-                                 "but found '%s'"), deviceType_name, deviceType);
-                goto cleanup;
-            }
-
-            virDomainDiskSetType(*def, VIR_STORAGE_TYPE_FILE);
-            ignore_value(virDomainDiskSetSource(*def, NULL));
         } else {
             virReportError(VIR_ERR_INTERNAL_ERROR,
                            _("Invalid or not yet handled value '%s' "
@@ -3556,7 +3547,7 @@ virVMXFormatDisk(virVMXContext *ctx, virDomainDiskDefPtr def,
             }
 
             fileName = ctx->formatFileName(src, ctx->opaque);
-        } else {
+        } else if (def->device == VIR_DOMAIN_DISK_DEVICE_CDROM) {
             ignore_value(VIR_STRDUP(fileName, "emptyBackingString"));
         }
 
diff --git a/tests/vmx2xmldata/vmx2xml-cdrom-ide-empty.xml b/tests/vmx2xmldata/vmx2xml-cdrom-ide-empty.xml
index 232200b..e086379 100644
--- a/tests/vmx2xmldata/vmx2xml-cdrom-ide-empty.xml
+++ b/tests/vmx2xmldata/vmx2xml-cdrom-ide-empty.xml
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@
   <on_reboot>restart</on_reboot>
   <on_crash>destroy</on_crash>
   <devices>
-    <disk type='file' device='disk'>
+    <disk type='file' device='cdrom'>
       <target dev='hda' bus='ide'/>
       <address type='drive' controller='0' bus='0' target='0' unit='0'/>
     </disk>
diff --git a/tests/vmx2xmldata/vmx2xml-cdrom-scsi-empty.xml b/tests/vmx2xmldata/vmx2xml-cdrom-scsi-empty.xml
index f2e4c75..56ad678 100644
--- a/tests/vmx2xmldata/vmx2xml-cdrom-scsi-empty.xml
+++ b/tests/vmx2xmldata/vmx2xml-cdrom-scsi-empty.xml
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@
   <on_reboot>restart</on_reboot>
   <on_crash>destroy</on_crash>
   <devices>
-    <disk type='file' device='disk'>
+    <disk type='file' device='cdrom'>
       <target dev='sda' bus='scsi'/>
       <address type='drive' controller='0' bus='0' target='0' unit='0'/>
     </disk>