diff --git a/hw/ppc/mac_newworld.c b/hw/ppc/mac_newworld.c
index b60a832c0ae8..8ba94996953e 100644
--- a/hw/ppc/mac_newworld.c
+++ b/hw/ppc/mac_newworld.c
@@ -417,7 +417,8 @@ static void ppc_core99_init(MachineState *machine)
     dev = qdev_create(adb_bus, TYPE_ADB_MOUSE);
     qdev_init_nofail(dev);
 
-    if (usb_enabled(machine_arch == ARCH_MAC99_U3)) {
+    if ((machine_arch == ARCH_MAC99_U3 && defaults_enabled()) ||
+        usb_enabled(false)) {
         pci_create_simple(pci_bus, -1, "pci-ohci");
         /* U3 needs to use USB for input because Linux doesn't support via-cuda
         on PPC64 */
diff --git a/hw/ppc/spapr.c b/hw/ppc/spapr.c
index 08401e0fde38..d5de301939ff 100644
--- a/hw/ppc/spapr.c
+++ b/hw/ppc/spapr.c
@@ -1486,7 +1486,7 @@ static void ppc_spapr_init(MachineState *machine)
         spapr->has_graphics = true;
     }
 
-    if (usb_enabled(spapr->has_graphics)) {
+    if ((spapr->has_graphics && defaults_enabled()) || usb_enabled(false)) {
         pci_create_simple(phb->bus, -1, "pci-ohci");
         if (spapr->has_graphics) {
             usbdevice_create("keyboard");
diff --git a/include/sysemu/sysemu.h b/include/sysemu/sysemu.h
index 503e5a48a70b..a31044c2712c 100644
--- a/include/sysemu/sysemu.h
+++ b/include/sysemu/sysemu.h
@@ -227,6 +227,7 @@ void qemu_boot_set(const char *boot_order, Error **errp);
 
 QemuOpts *qemu_get_machine_opts(void);
 
+bool defaults_enabled(void);
 bool usb_enabled(bool default_usb);
 
 extern QemuOptsList qemu_legacy_drive_opts;
diff --git a/vl.c b/vl.c
index bea965623262..415535fb4686 100644
--- a/vl.c
+++ b/vl.c
@@ -997,10 +997,15 @@ static int parse_name(QemuOpts *opts, void *opaque)
     return 0;
 }
 
+bool defaults_enabled(void)
+{
+    return has_defaults;
+}
+
 bool usb_enabled(bool default_usb)
 {
     return qemu_opt_get_bool(qemu_get_machine_opts(), "usb",
-                             has_defaults && default_usb);
+                             default_usb);
 }
 
 #ifndef _WIN32