diff --git a/doc/guides/rel_notes/release_16_04.rst b/doc/guides/rel_notes/release_16_04.rst
index b07491aabe..6500dc7df5 100644
--- a/doc/guides/rel_notes/release_16_04.rst
+++ b/doc/guides/rel_notes/release_16_04.rst
@@ -182,6 +182,12 @@ Drivers
   Fixed an incorrect device MTU being set due to ethernet header and
   CRC lengths being added twice.
 
+* **ixgbe: Fixed zeroed VF mac address.**
+
+  Resolved an issue where VF mac address is zeroed out in cases where the VF
+  driver is loaded while the PF interface is down.
+  The solution is to only set it when we get an ACK from the PF.
+
 * **aesni_mb: Fixed wrong return value when creating a device.**
 
   cryptodev_aesni_mb_init() was returning the device id of the device created,
diff --git a/drivers/net/ixgbe/base/ixgbe_vf.c b/drivers/net/ixgbe/base/ixgbe_vf.c
index 50f5e54d6a..dbb5194987 100644
--- a/drivers/net/ixgbe/base/ixgbe_vf.c
+++ b/drivers/net/ixgbe/base/ixgbe_vf.c
@@ -228,7 +228,9 @@ s32 ixgbe_reset_hw_vf(struct ixgbe_hw *hw)
 	    msgbuf[0] != (IXGBE_VF_RESET | IXGBE_VT_MSGTYPE_NACK))
 		return IXGBE_ERR_INVALID_MAC_ADDR;
 
-	memcpy(hw->mac.perm_addr, addr, IXGBE_ETH_LENGTH_OF_ADDRESS);
+	if (msgbuf[0] == (IXGBE_VF_RESET | IXGBE_VT_MSGTYPE_ACK))
+		memcpy(hw->mac.perm_addr, addr, IXGBE_ETH_LENGTH_OF_ADDRESS);
+
 	hw->mac.mc_filter_type = msgbuf[IXGBE_VF_MC_TYPE_WORD];
 
 	return ret_val;