diff --git a/lib/hypervisor/hv_xen.py b/lib/hypervisor/hv_xen.py
index 20c7230c03978f2c96b4a59f4f9289bead122b48..84c87d2a9db8567b6cab55f5afcc9bc1fb68c48e 100644
--- a/lib/hypervisor/hv_xen.py
+++ b/lib/hypervisor/hv_xen.py
@@ -137,11 +137,13 @@ class XenHypervisor(hv_base.BaseHypervisor):
     """Returns the contents of the instance config file.
 
     """
+    filename = XenHypervisor._ConfigFileName(instance_name)
+
     try:
-      file_content = utils.ReadFile(
-                       XenHypervisor._ConfigFileName(instance_name))
+      file_content = utils.ReadFile(filename)
     except EnvironmentError, err:
       raise errors.HypervisorError("Failed to load Xen config file: %s" % err)
+
     return file_content
 
   @staticmethod