diff --git a/tools/libxl/xl_cmdimpl.c b/tools/libxl/xl_cmdimpl.c
index cb9dda7..b5947c1 100644
--- a/tools/libxl/xl_cmdimpl.c
+++ b/tools/libxl/xl_cmdimpl.c
@@ -638,6 +638,9 @@ static void parse_config_data(const char *configfile_filename_report,
     if (!xlu_cfg_get_long (config, "vcpus", &l)) {
         b_info->max_vcpus = l;
         b_info->cur_vcpus = (1 << l) - 1;
+    } else {
+        b_info->max_vcpus = 1;
+        b_info->cur_vcpus = 1;
     }
 
     if (!xlu_cfg_get_long (config, "maxvcpus", &l))