diff --git a/PVE/QemuServer.pm b/PVE/QemuServer.pm
index f82c1e68..8bebd0fb 100644
--- a/PVE/QemuServer.pm
+++ b/PVE/QemuServer.pm
@@ -5018,7 +5018,7 @@ sub vmconfig_hotplug_pending {
 		# some changes can be done without hotplug
 		my $drive = parse_drive($opt, $value);
 		if (drive_is_cloudinit($drive)) {
-		    PVE::QemuServer::Cloudinit::generate_cloudinitconfig($conf, $vmid);
+		    $conf->{cloudinit} = PVE::QemuServer::Cloudinit::generate_cloudinitconfig($conf, $vmid);
 		}
 		vmconfig_update_disk($storecfg, $conf, $hotplug_features->{disk},
 				     $vmid, $opt, $value, $arch, $machine_type);
@@ -5060,7 +5060,7 @@ sub vmconfig_hotplug_pending {
 
     PVE::QemuConfig->write_config($vmid, $conf);
 
-    if($hotplug_features->{cloudinit}) {
+    if ($hotplug_features->{cloudinit}) {
 	my $pending = PVE::QemuServer::Cloudinit::get_pending_config($conf, $vmid);
 	my $regenerate = undef;
 	for my $item (@$pending) {
@@ -5167,9 +5167,11 @@ sub vmconfig_apply_pending {
 	}
     }
 
+    $conf->{cloudinit} = PVE::QemuServer::Cloudinit::generate_cloudinitconfig($conf, $vmid)
+	if $generate_cloudnit;
+
     # write all changes at once to avoid unnecessary i/o
     PVE::QemuConfig->write_config($vmid, $conf);
-    PVE::QemuServer::Cloudinit::generate_cloudinitconfig($conf, $vmid) if $generate_cloudnit;
 }
 
 sub vmconfig_update_net {
@@ -5372,7 +5374,8 @@ sub vmconfig_update_cloudinit_drive {
 
     return if !$cloudinit_drive;
 
-    PVE::QemuServer::Cloudinit::generate_cloudinitconfig($conf, $vmid);
+    $conf->{cloudinit} = PVE::QemuServer::Cloudinit::generate_cloudinitconfig($conf, $vmid);
+    # FIXME: write out changed config here? needs to be sure that config is locked though!
     my $running = PVE::QemuServer::check_running($vmid);
 
     if ($running) {
@@ -5554,12 +5557,13 @@ sub vm_start_nolock {
     if (!$statefile && scalar(keys %{$conf->{pending}})) {
 	vmconfig_apply_pending($vmid, $conf, $storecfg);
 	$conf = PVE::QemuConfig->load_config($vmid); # update/reload
+    } elsif (!$migratedfrom) {
+	# don't regenerate the ISO if the VM is started as part of a live migration
+	# this way we can reuse the old ISO with the correct config
+	$conf->{cloudinit} = PVE::QemuServer::Cloudinit::generate_cloudinitconfig($conf, $vmid);
+	# FIXME: write out changed config here? if any changes
     }
 
-    # don't regenerate the ISO if the VM is started as part of a live migration
-    # this way we can reuse the old ISO with the correct config
-    PVE::QemuServer::Cloudinit::generate_cloudinitconfig($conf, $vmid) if !$migratedfrom;
-
     # override offline migrated volumes, conf is out of date still
     if (my $offline_volumes = $migrate_opts->{offline_volumes}) {
 	for my $key (sort keys $offline_volumes->%*) {
diff --git a/PVE/QemuServer/Cloudinit.pm b/PVE/QemuServer/Cloudinit.pm
index b616c7b9..d4a34c40 100644
--- a/PVE/QemuServer/Cloudinit.pm
+++ b/PVE/QemuServer/Cloudinit.pm
@@ -566,7 +566,6 @@ sub generate_cloudinitconfig {
 
     PVE::QemuConfig->foreach_volume($conf, sub {
         my ($ds, $drive) = @_;
-
 	my ($storeid, $volname) = PVE::Storage::parse_volume_id($drive->{file}, 1);
 
 	return if !$volname || $volname !~ m/vm-$vmid-cloudinit/;
@@ -577,36 +576,34 @@ sub generate_cloudinitconfig {
 	$generator->($conf, $vmid, $drive, $volname, $storeid);
     });
 
-    my $cloudinitconf = delete $conf->{cloudinit};
-    $cloudinitconf = {};
+    my $cloudinit_conf = {};
 
     my @cloudinit_opts = keys %{PVE::QemuServer::cloudinit_config_properties()};
     push @cloudinit_opts, 'name';
 
     for my $opt (@cloudinit_opts) {
-
 	if ($opt =~ m/^ipconfig(\d+)/) {
 	    my $netid = "net$1";
 	    next if !defined($conf->{$netid});
-	    $conf->{cloudinit}->{$netid} = $conf->{$netid};
+	    $cloudinit_conf->{$netid} = $conf->{$netid};
 	}
 
-	$conf->{cloudinit}->{$opt} = $conf->{$opt} if $conf->{$opt};
+	$cloudinit_conf->{$opt} = $conf->{$opt} if $conf->{$opt};
     }
 
-    $conf->{cloudinit}->{name} = "VM$vmid" if !$conf->{cloudinit}->{name};
-
+    my $has_cloudinit_drive = 0;
     for my $opt (keys %{$conf}) {
 	if (PVE::QemuServer::is_valid_drivename($opt)) {
 	    my $drive = PVE::QemuServer::parse_drive($opt, $conf->{$opt});
 	    if (PVE::QemuServer::drive_is_cloudinit($drive)) {
-		$conf->{cloudinit}->{$opt} = $conf->{$opt};
+		$has_cloudinit_drive = 1;
+		$cloudinit_conf->{$opt} = $conf->{$opt};
 	    }
 	}
     }
+    $cloudinit_conf->{name} //= "VM$vmid" if $has_cloudinit_drive;
 
-    PVE::QemuConfig->write_config($vmid, $conf);
-
+    return $cloudinit_conf;
 }
 
 sub dump_cloudinit_config {