diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_driver.c b/src/qemu/qemu_driver.c
index b6a5cd68a80f9f2c37e4218b75d7c8366c326ad0..23e0db0b053bd5437e0e96b4a3e77599880d56c6 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_driver.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_driver.c
@@ -5770,6 +5770,15 @@ qemudDomainSaveImageStartVM(virConnectPtr conn,
                              VIR_VM_OP_RESTORE);
 
     if (intermediate_pid != -1) {
+        if (ret < 0) {
+            /* if there was an error setting up qemu, the intermediate process will
+             * wait forever to write to stdout, so we must manually kill it.
+             */
+            VIR_FORCE_CLOSE(intermediatefd);
+            VIR_FORCE_CLOSE(fd);
+            kill(intermediate_pid, SIGTERM);
+        }
+
         /* Wait for intermediate process to exit */
         while (waitpid(intermediate_pid, &childstat, 0) == -1 &&
                errno == EINTR) {