diff --git a/tools/libxl/libxl_aoutils.c b/tools/libxl/libxl_aoutils.c
index 477717bae7..1c9eb9e7c0 100644
--- a/tools/libxl/libxl_aoutils.c
+++ b/tools/libxl/libxl_aoutils.c
@@ -69,8 +69,12 @@ void xswait_xswatch_callback(libxl__egc *egc, libxl__ev_xswatch *xsw,
     int rc;
     const char *data;
 
-    rc = libxl__xs_read_checked(gc, XBT_NULL, xswa->path, &data);
-    if (rc) { xswait_report_error(egc, xswa, rc); return; }
+    if (xswa->path[0] == '@') {
+        data = 0;
+    } else {
+        rc = libxl__xs_read_checked(gc, XBT_NULL, xswa->path, &data);
+        if (rc) { xswait_report_error(egc, xswa, rc); return; }
+    }
 
     xswa->callback(egc, xswa, 0, data);
 }
diff --git a/tools/libxl/libxl_internal.h b/tools/libxl/libxl_internal.h
index a208be720e..a82a43d920 100644
--- a/tools/libxl/libxl_internal.h
+++ b/tools/libxl/libxl_internal.h
@@ -1130,6 +1130,8 @@ typedef struct libxl__xswait_state libxl__xswait_state;
  *     This HAS been logged.
  *     xswait will not continue (but calling libxl__xswait_stop is OK).
  *
+ * xswait.path may start with with '@', in which case no read is done
+ * and the callback will always get data==0.
  */
 typedef void libxl__xswait_callback(libxl__egc *egc,
       libxl__xswait_state *xswa, int rc, const char *data);