diff --git a/nova/virt/disk/vfs/guestfs.py b/nova/virt/disk/vfs/guestfs.py
index 71a40d7a9b03..37a9cfa88abd 100644
--- a/nova/virt/disk/vfs/guestfs.py
+++ b/nova/virt/disk/vfs/guestfs.py
@@ -74,7 +74,7 @@ class VFSGuestFS(vfs.VFS):
     def inspect_capabilities(self):
         """Determines whether guestfs is well configured."""
         try:
-            g = guestfs.GuestFS()
+            g = tpool.Proxy(guestfs.GuestFS())
             g.add_drive("/dev/null")  # sic
             g.launch()
         except Exception as e: