diff --git a/qubes/config.py b/qubes/config.py
index f35801f0..1277e244 100644
--- a/qubes/config.py
+++ b/qubes/config.py
@@ -22,7 +22,6 @@
 #
 #
 
-
 qubes_base_dir   = "/var/lib/qubes"
 system_path = {
     'qubes_guid_path': '/usr/bin/qubes-guid',
@@ -75,7 +74,7 @@ defaults = {
     'private_img_size': 2*1024*1024*1024,
     'root_img_size': 10*1024*1024*1024,
 
-    'storage_class': None,
+    'storage_class': 'qubes.storage.xen.XenVMStorage',
 
     # how long (in sec) to wait for VMs to shutdown,
     # before killing them (when used qvm-run with --wait option),
diff --git a/qubes/storage/__init__.py b/qubes/storage/__init__.py
index dd98e7f5..38ce072c 100644
--- a/qubes/storage/__init__.py
+++ b/qubes/storage/__init__.py
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@
 
 from __future__ import absolute_import
 
+import importlib
 import os
 import os.path
 import re
@@ -32,7 +33,6 @@ import sys
 import qubes
 import qubes.utils
 
-
 class VMStorage(object):
     '''Class for handling VM virtual disks.
 
diff --git a/qubes/tests/init.py b/qubes/tests/init.py
index ddd211d8..4bd48e77 100644
--- a/qubes/tests/init.py
+++ b/qubes/tests/init.py
@@ -322,6 +322,12 @@ class TC_30_VMCollection(qubes.tests.QubesTestCase):
 
 
 class TC_90_Qubes(qubes.tests.QubesTestCase):
+    @qubes.tests.skipUnlessDom0
+    def test_000_init_empty(self):
+        try: os.unlink('/tmp/qubestest.xml')
+        except: pass
+        app = qubes.Qubes('/tmp/qubestest.xml')
+
     @qubes.tests.skipUnlessGit
     def test_900_example_xml_in_doc(self):
         self.assertXMLIsValid(
diff --git a/qubes/vm/qubesvm.py b/qubes/vm/qubesvm.py
index b6f477b8..bf074856 100644
--- a/qubes/vm/qubesvm.py
+++ b/qubes/vm/qubesvm.py
@@ -41,6 +41,7 @@ import qubes.config
 #import qubes.qdb
 #import qubes.qmemman
 #import qubes.qmemman_algo
+import qubes.storage
 import qubes.utils
 import qubes.vm
 
@@ -440,7 +441,8 @@ class QubesVM(qubes.vm.BaseVM):
             self.services['meminfo-writer'] = False
 
         # Initialize VM image storage class
-        self.storage = qubes.config.defaults["storage_class"](self)
+        self.storage = qubes.storage.get_storage(self)
+
         if hasattr(self, 'kernels_dir'):
             self.storage.modules_img = os.path.join(self.kernels_dir,
                     "modules.img")