diff --git a/dump/dump.c b/dump/dump.c
index 2d0b5bd..ec2cfcf 100644
--- a/dump/dump.c
+++ b/dump/dump.c
@@ -1828,7 +1828,7 @@
 
     s->fd = fd;
     if (has_filter && !length) {
-        error_setg(errp, QERR_INVALID_PARAMETER, "length");
+        error_setg(errp, "parameter 'length' expects a non-zero size");
         goto cleanup;
     }
     s->filter_area_begin = begin;
@@ -2088,7 +2088,7 @@
 {
     ERRP_GUARD();
     const char *p;
-    int fd = -1;
+    int fd;
     DumpState *s;
     bool detach_p = false;
     bool kdump_raw = false;
@@ -2175,18 +2175,14 @@
         if (fd == -1) {
             return;
         }
-    }
-
-    if  (strstart(protocol, "file:", &p)) {
-        fd = qemu_open_old(p, O_WRONLY | O_CREAT | O_TRUNC | O_BINARY, S_IRUSR);
+    } else if  (strstart(protocol, "file:", &p)) {
+        fd = qemu_create(p, O_WRONLY | O_TRUNC | O_BINARY, S_IRUSR, errp);
         if (fd < 0) {
-            error_setg_file_open(errp, errno, p);
             return;
         }
-    }
-
-    if (fd == -1) {
-        error_setg(errp, QERR_INVALID_PARAMETER, "protocol");
+    } else {
+        error_setg(errp,
+                   "parameter 'protocol' must start with 'file:' or 'fd:'");
         return;
     }
     if (kdump_raw && lseek(fd, 0, SEEK_CUR) == (off_t) -1) {