diff --git a/PVE/API2/Qemu.pm b/PVE/API2/Qemu.pm
index 267a08e8..7e1d3147 100644
--- a/PVE/API2/Qemu.pm
+++ b/PVE/API2/Qemu.pm
@@ -1492,9 +1492,15 @@ __PACKAGE__->register_method({
 	    my $upid = shift;
 
 	    syslog('info', "destroy VM $vmid: $upid\n");
-	    PVE::QemuServer::vm_destroy($storecfg, $vmid, $skiplock);
-	    PVE::AccessControl::remove_vm_access($vmid);
-            PVE::Firewall::remove_vmfw_conf($vmid);
+	    PVE::QemuConfig->lock_config($vmid, sub {
+		die "VM $vmid is running - destroy failed\n"
+		    if (PVE::QemuServer::check_running($vmid));
+		PVE::QemuServer::destroy_vm($storecfg, $vmid, 1, $skiplock);
+		PVE::AccessControl::remove_vm_access($vmid);
+		PVE::Firewall::remove_vmfw_conf($vmid);
+		unlink PVE::QemuConfig->config_file($vmid)
+		    or die "Removal of VM $vmid config file failed: $!\n";
+	    });
 	};
 
 	return $rpcenv->fork_worker('qmdestroy', $vmid, $authuser, $realcmd);