diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index b7561dc936a7740a780ed561460a8efbb5701536..264a419c8fca365956caccbcf8e5115d26a6b16a 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -128,6 +128,7 @@
 /tests/openvzutilstest
 /tests/qemuargv2xmltest
 /tests/qemuhelptest
+/tests/qemumonitortest
 /tests/qemuxmlnstest
 /tests/qparamtest
 /tests/reconnect
diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_monitor.c b/src/qemu/qemu_monitor.c
index 1e97046f628dec2e7ef132a6d7bc8e8954dca815..de4571c9d444638e83e351ecd0a490e975ca2dd2 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_monitor.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_monitor.c
@@ -153,6 +153,49 @@ char *qemuMonitorEscapeArg(const char *in)
     return out;
 }
 
+char *qemuMonitorUnescapeArg(const char *in)
+{
+    int i, j;
+    char *out;
+    int len = strlen(in) + 1;
+    char next;
+
+    if (VIR_ALLOC_N(out, len) < 0)
+        return NULL;
+
+    for (i = j = 0; i < len; ++i) {
+        next = in[i];
+        if (in[i] == '\\') {
+            if (len < i + 1) {
+                /* trailing backslash shouldn't be possible */
+                VIR_FREE(out);
+                return NULL;
+            }
+            ++i;
+            switch(in[i]) {
+            case 'r':
+                next = '\r';
+                break;
+            case 'n':
+                next = '\n';
+                break;
+            case '"':
+            case '\\':
+                next = in[i];
+                break;
+            default:
+                /* invalid input */
+                VIR_FREE(out);
+                return NULL;
+            }
+        }
+        out[j++] = next;
+    }
+    out[j] = '\0';
+
+    return out;
+}
+
 #if DEBUG_RAW_IO
 # include <c-ctype.h>
 static char * qemuMonitorEscapeNonPrintable(const char *text)
@@ -852,10 +895,26 @@ int qemuMonitorHMPCommandWithFd(qemuMonitorPtr mon,
                                 int scm_fd,
                                 char **reply)
 {
-    if (mon->json)
-        return qemuMonitorJSONHumanCommandWithFd(mon, cmd, scm_fd, reply);
-    else
-        return qemuMonitorTextCommandWithFd(mon, cmd, scm_fd, reply);
+    char *json_cmd = NULL;
+    int ret = -1;
+
+    if (mon->json) {
+        /* hack to avoid complicating each call to text monitor functions */
+        json_cmd = qemuMonitorUnescapeArg(cmd);
+        if (!json_cmd) {
+            VIR_DEBUG("Could not unescape command: %s", cmd);
+            qemuReportError(VIR_ERR_INTERNAL_ERROR, "%s",
+                            _("Unable to unescape command"));
+            goto cleanup;
+        }
+        ret = qemuMonitorJSONHumanCommandWithFd(mon, json_cmd, scm_fd, reply);
+    } else {
+        ret = qemuMonitorTextCommandWithFd(mon, cmd, scm_fd, reply);
+    }
+
+cleanup:
+    VIR_FREE(json_cmd);
+    return ret;
 }
 
 /* Ensure proper locking around callbacks.  */
diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_monitor.h b/src/qemu/qemu_monitor.h
index cadd8530e947e564d3b8a0f94f3cf78a95b03813..9c5a5d3c7d3e88abc092ae80c2d13e4db7f67ace 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_monitor.h
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_monitor.h
@@ -128,6 +128,7 @@ struct _qemuMonitorCallbacks {
 
 
 char *qemuMonitorEscapeArg(const char *in);
+char *qemuMonitorUnescapeArg(const char *in);
 
 qemuMonitorPtr qemuMonitorOpen(virDomainObjPtr vm,
                                virDomainChrSourceDefPtr config,
diff --git a/tests/Makefile.am b/tests/Makefile.am
index 9974c2ffb218142943faf3e951316de746d0d746..3e505a5592f4eaab40a64f2eead273ea42c96bbb 100644
--- a/tests/Makefile.am
+++ b/tests/Makefile.am
@@ -72,6 +72,7 @@ EXTRA_DIST =		\
 	nwfilterxml2xmlout \
 	oomtrace.pl \
 	qemuhelpdata \
+	qemumonitortest \
 	qemuxml2argvdata \
 	qemuxml2xmloutdata \
 	qemuxmlnsdata \
@@ -110,7 +111,8 @@ check_PROGRAMS += xml2sexprtest sexpr2xmltest \
 endif
 if WITH_QEMU
 check_PROGRAMS += qemuxml2argvtest qemuxml2xmltest qemuxmlnstest \
-	qemuargv2xmltest qemuhelptest domainsnapshotxml2xmltest
+	qemuargv2xmltest qemuhelptest domainsnapshotxml2xmltest \
+	qemumonitortest
 endif
 
 if WITH_OPENVZ
@@ -237,7 +239,8 @@ endif
 
 if WITH_QEMU
 TESTS += qemuxml2argvtest qemuxml2xmltest qemuxmlnstest qemuargv2xmltest \
-	 qemuhelptest domainsnapshotxml2xmltest nwfilterxml2xmltest
+	 qemuhelptest domainsnapshotxml2xmltest nwfilterxml2xmltest \
+	 qemumonitortest
 endif
 
 if WITH_OPENVZ
@@ -365,6 +368,9 @@ qemuargv2xmltest_LDADD = $(qemu_LDADDS) $(LDADDS)
 qemuhelptest_SOURCES = qemuhelptest.c testutils.c testutils.h
 qemuhelptest_LDADD = $(qemu_LDADDS) $(LDADDS)
 
+qemumonitortest_SOURCES = qemumonitortest.c testutils.c testutils.h
+qemumonitortest_LDADD = $(qemu_LDADDS) $(LDADDS)
+
 domainsnapshotxml2xmltest_SOURCES = \
 	domainsnapshotxml2xmltest.c testutilsqemu.c testutilsqemu.h \
 	testutils.c testutils.h
@@ -372,7 +378,7 @@ domainsnapshotxml2xmltest_LDADD = $(qemu_LDADDS) $(LDADDS)
 else
 EXTRA_DIST += qemuxml2argvtest.c qemuxml2xmltest.c qemuargv2xmltest.c \
 	qemuxmlnstest.c qemuhelptest.c domainsnapshotxml2xmltest.c \
-	testutilsqemu.c testutilsqemu.h
+	qemumonitortest.c testutilsqemu.c testutilsqemu.h
 endif
 
 if WITH_OPENVZ
diff --git a/tests/qemumonitortest.c b/tests/qemumonitortest.c
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..82f861b36ba927892dade7d303f9c5d36151100a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/qemumonitortest.c
@@ -0,0 +1,118 @@
+#include <config.h>
+
+#include <stdio.h>
+#include <stdlib.h>
+#include <string.h>
+#include <unistd.h>
+
+#ifdef WITH_QEMU
+
+# include "internal.h"
+# include "memory.h"
+# include "testutils.h"
+# include "util.h"
+# include "qemu/qemu_monitor.h"
+
+struct testEscapeString
+{
+    const char *unescaped;
+    const char *escaped;
+};
+
+static struct testEscapeString escapeStrings[] = {
+    { "", "" },
+    { " ", " " },
+    { "\\", "\\\\" },
+    { "\n", "\\n" },
+    { "\r", "\\r" },
+    { "\"", "\\\"" },
+    { "\"\"\"\\\\\n\r\\\\\n\r\"\"\"", "\\\"\\\"\\\"\\\\\\\\\\n\\r\\\\\\\\\\n\\r\\\"\\\"\\\"" },
+    { "drive_add dummy file=foo\\", "drive_add dummy file=foo\\\\" },
+    { "block info", "block info" },
+    { "set_password \":\\\"\"", "set_password \\\":\\\\\\\"\\\"" },
+};
+
+static int testEscapeArg(const void *data ATTRIBUTE_UNUSED)
+{
+    int i;
+    char *escaped = NULL;
+    for (i = 0; i < ARRAY_CARDINALITY(escapeStrings); ++i) {
+        escaped = qemuMonitorEscapeArg(escapeStrings[i].unescaped);
+        if (!escaped) {
+            if (virTestGetDebug() > 0) {
+                fprintf(stderr, "\nUnescaped string [%s]\n",
+                        escapeStrings[i].unescaped);
+                fprintf(stderr, "Expect result [%s]\n",
+                        escapeStrings[i].escaped);
+                fprintf(stderr, "Actual result [(null)]\n");
+            }
+            return -1;
+        }
+        if (STRNEQ(escapeStrings[i].escaped, escaped)) {
+            virtTestDifference(stderr, escapeStrings[i].escaped, escaped);
+            VIR_FREE(escaped);
+            return -1;
+        }
+        VIR_FREE(escaped);
+    }
+
+    return 0;
+}
+
+static int testUnescapeArg(const void *data ATTRIBUTE_UNUSED)
+{
+    int i;
+    char *unescaped = NULL;
+    for (i = 0; i < ARRAY_CARDINALITY(escapeStrings); ++i) {
+        unescaped = qemuMonitorUnescapeArg(escapeStrings[i].escaped);
+        if (!unescaped) {
+            if (virTestGetDebug() > 0) {
+                fprintf(stderr, "\nEscaped string [%s]\n",
+                        escapeStrings[i].escaped);
+                fprintf(stderr, "Expect result [%s]\n",
+                        escapeStrings[i].unescaped);
+                fprintf(stderr, "Actual result [(null)]\n");
+            }
+            return -1;
+        }
+        if (STRNEQ(escapeStrings[i].unescaped, unescaped)) {
+            virtTestDifference(stderr, escapeStrings[i].unescaped, unescaped);
+            VIR_FREE(unescaped);
+            return -1;
+        }
+        VIR_FREE(unescaped);
+    }
+
+    return 0;
+}
+
+static int
+mymain(void)
+{
+    int result = 0;
+
+# define DO_TEST(_name)                                                 \
+    do {                                                                \
+        if (virtTestRun("qemu monitor "#_name, 1, test##_name,          \
+                        NULL) < 0) {                                    \
+            result = -1;                                                \
+        }                                                               \
+    } while (0)
+
+    DO_TEST(EscapeArg);
+    DO_TEST(UnescapeArg);
+
+    return result == 0 ? EXIT_SUCCESS : EXIT_FAILURE;
+}
+
+VIRT_TEST_MAIN(mymain)
+
+#else
+# include "testutils.h"
+
+int main(void)
+{
+    return EXIT_AM_SKIP;
+}
+
+#endif /* WITH_QEMU */