diff --git a/vmm/src/config.rs b/vmm/src/config.rs
index ad8bf37a5..af9c4ce9a 100644
--- a/vmm/src/config.rs
+++ b/vmm/src/config.rs
@@ -2202,7 +2202,11 @@ impl NumaConfig {
         let guest_numa_id = parser
             .convert::<u32>("guest_numa_id")
             .map_err(Error::ParseNuma)?
-            .unwrap_or(0);
+            .ok_or_else(|| {
+                Error::ParseNuma(OptionParserError::InvalidValue(
+                    "guest_numa_id is required for all NUMA nodes".to_string(),
+                ))
+            })?;
         let cpus = parser
             .convert::<IntegerList>("cpus")
             .map_err(Error::ParseNuma)?
diff --git a/vmm/src/vm_config.rs b/vmm/src/vm_config.rs
index a71cca7be..954ab16fc 100644
--- a/vmm/src/vm_config.rs
+++ b/vmm/src/vm_config.rs
@@ -676,7 +676,6 @@ pub struct NumaDistance {
 
 #[derive(Clone, Debug, PartialEq, Eq, Deserialize, Serialize)]
 pub struct NumaConfig {
-    #[serde(default)]
     pub guest_numa_id: u32,
     #[serde(default)]
     pub cpus: Option<Vec<u32>>,