diff --git a/drivers/virtio/virtio.c b/drivers/virtio/virtio.c
index 48230a5e12f2..bf7ff3934d7f 100644
--- a/drivers/virtio/virtio.c
+++ b/drivers/virtio/virtio.c
@@ -333,6 +333,8 @@ int register_virtio_device(struct virtio_device *dev)
 	/* device_register() causes the bus infrastructure to look for a
 	 * matching driver. */
 	err = device_register(&dev->dev);
+	if (err)
+		ida_simple_remove(&virtio_index_ida, dev->index);
 out:
 	if (err)
 		virtio_add_status(dev, VIRTIO_CONFIG_S_FAILED);