diff --git a/tools/libxl/libxl_qmp.c b/tools/libxl/libxl_qmp.c
index be1fda18ba..0fe42813bf 100644
--- a/tools/libxl/libxl_qmp.c
+++ b/tools/libxl/libxl_qmp.c
@@ -627,7 +627,7 @@ static int qmp_synchronous_send(libxl__qmp_handler *qmp, const char *cmd,
 
     id = qmp_send(qmp, cmd, args, callback, opaque, &context);
     if (id <= 0) {
-        return -1;
+        return ERROR_FAIL;
     }
     qmp->wait_for_id = id;