diff --git a/lib/nova_plugins/hypervisor-libvirt b/lib/nova_plugins/hypervisor-libvirt
index b4eb3c12a2..167ab6f2e7 100644
--- a/lib/nova_plugins/hypervisor-libvirt
+++ b/lib/nova_plugins/hypervisor-libvirt
@@ -40,7 +40,8 @@ function configure_nova_hypervisor {
     configure_libvirt
     iniset $NOVA_CONF libvirt virt_type "$LIBVIRT_TYPE"
     iniset $NOVA_CONF libvirt cpu_mode "none"
-    iniset $NOVA_CONF libvirt use_usb_tablet "False"
+    # Do not enable USB tablet input devices to avoid QEMU CPU overhead.
+    iniset $NOVA_CONF DEFAULT pointer_model "ps2mouse"
     iniset $NOVA_CONF libvirt live_migration_uri "qemu+ssh://$STACK_USER@%s/system"
     iniset $NOVA_CONF DEFAULT default_ephemeral_format "ext4"
     iniset $NOVA_CONF DEFAULT compute_driver "libvirt.LibvirtDriver"