diff --git a/include/hw/virtio/vhost.h b/include/hw/virtio/vhost.h
index 5ee306568b..1a9fc65089 100644
--- a/include/hw/virtio/vhost.h
+++ b/include/hw/virtio/vhost.h
@@ -71,7 +71,7 @@ struct vhost_dev {
     int n_tmp_sections;
     MemoryRegionSection *tmp_sections;
     struct vhost_virtqueue *vqs;
-    int nvqs;
+    unsigned int nvqs;
     /* the first virtqueue which would be used by this vhost dev */
     int vq_index;
     /* if non-zero, minimum required value for max_queues */