diff --git a/tests/qemu-iotests/check b/tests/qemu-iotests/check
index ec8033350d15fa76dae71642ea2b88afb7bf11cb..aa94c6c7ea906e592a33fe53ab04c12de1cd7b00 100755
--- a/tests/qemu-iotests/check
+++ b/tests/qemu-iotests/check
@@ -538,8 +538,8 @@ if [ -z "$QEMU_PROG" ]
 then
     if [ -x "$build_iotests/qemu" ]; then
         export QEMU_PROG="$build_iotests/qemu"
-    elif [ -x "$build_root/$arch-softmmu/qemu-system-$arch" ]; then
-        export QEMU_PROG="$build_root/$arch-softmmu/qemu-system-$arch"
+    elif [ -x "$build_root/${qemu_arch}-softmmu/qemu-system-${qemu_arch}" ]; then
+        export QEMU_PROG="$build_root/${qemu_arch}-softmmu/qemu-system-${qemu_arch}"
     else
         pushd "$build_root" > /dev/null
         for binary in *-softmmu/qemu-system-*
diff --git a/tests/qemu-iotests/common.config b/tests/qemu-iotests/common.config
index cdcda54546024a5371ff7603705103d6454d7a03..102aa6878a96f8d7bf2d65d3f727a17ad992d83b 100644
--- a/tests/qemu-iotests/common.config
+++ b/tests/qemu-iotests/common.config
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ PATH=".:$PATH"
 
 HOSTOS=`uname -s`
 arch=`uname -m`
+[[ "$arch" =~ "ppc64" ]] && qemu_arch=ppc64 || qemu_arch="$arch"
 
 export PWD=`pwd`