diff --git a/tests/vm/basevm.py b/tests/vm/basevm.py
index 2bd32dc6cefeffefe118ce4963c89c7a43aff219..9415e7c33a9486e30586ef32c84d167b330b148d 100755
--- a/tests/vm/basevm.py
+++ b/tests/vm/basevm.py
@@ -70,7 +70,7 @@ class BaseVM(object):
             "-device", "virtio-net-pci,netdev=vnet",
             "-vnc", "127.0.0.1:0,to=20",
             "-serial", "file:%s" % os.path.join(self._tmpdir, "serial.out")]
-        if vcpus:
+        if vcpus and vcpus > 1:
             self._args += ["-smp", str(vcpus)]
         if kvm_available():
             self._args += ["-enable-kvm"]