diff --git a/tools/perf/builtin-diff.c b/tools/perf/builtin-diff.c
index 3b67ea2..2a85cc9 100644
--- a/tools/perf/builtin-diff.c
+++ b/tools/perf/builtin-diff.c
@@ -1000,8 +1000,7 @@
 			data__files_cnt = argc;
 			use_default = false;
 		}
-	} else if (symbol_conf.default_guest_vmlinux_name ||
-		   symbol_conf.default_guest_kallsyms) {
+	} else if (perf_guest) {
 		defaults[0] = "perf.data.host";
 		defaults[1] = "perf.data.guest";
 	}