diff --git a/bin/nova-manage b/bin/nova-manage
index 770b953686..08c4133e32 100755
--- a/bin/nova-manage
+++ b/bin/nova-manage
@@ -106,7 +106,6 @@ flags.DECLARE('vlan_start', 'nova.network.manager')
 flags.DECLARE('vpn_start', 'nova.network.manager')
 flags.DECLARE('default_floating_pool', 'nova.network.manager')
 flags.DECLARE('public_interface', 'nova.network.linux_net')
-flags.DECLARE('libvirt_type', 'nova.virt.libvirt.connection')
 
 
 # Decorators for actions
@@ -1002,6 +1001,7 @@ class VmCommands(object):
         ctxt = context.get_admin_context()
         instance_id = ec2utils.ec2_id_to_id(ec2_id)
 
+        flags.DECLARE('libvirt_type', 'nova.virt.libvirt.connection')
         if (FLAGS.connection_type != 'libvirt' or
            (FLAGS.connection_type == 'libvirt' and
             FLAGS.libvirt_type not in ['kvm', 'qemu'])):