diff --git a/dom0/restore/qvm-create-default-dvm b/dom0/restore/qvm-create-default-dvm
index f1f5c939..70ceb8e7 100755
--- a/dom0/restore/qvm-create-default-dvm
+++ b/dom0/restore/qvm-create-default-dvm
@@ -30,7 +30,9 @@ fi
 DVMTMPL="$TEMPLATENAME"-dvm
 DVMTMPLDIR="/var/lib/qubes/appvms/$DVMTMPL"
 if ! [ -d "$DVMTMPLDIR" ] ; then
-	if ! qvm-create -t "$TEMPLATENAME" -l gray "$DVMTMPL" ; then exit 1 ; fi
+	# unfortunately, currently there are reliability issues with save of a domain
+	# with multiple CPUs
+	if ! qvm-create --vcpus=1 -t "$TEMPLATENAME" -l gray "$DVMTMPL" ; then exit 1 ; fi
 fi
 if ! /usr/lib/qubes/qubes_prepare_saved_domain.sh \
 	"$DVMTMPL" "/var/lib/qubes/appvms/$DVMTMPL/dvm-savefile" $SCRIPTNAME ; then