diff --git a/migration-exec.c b/migration-exec.c
index e472979d8d3ea9744f96e7c556f91daa0cfda850..e3616be5f128c113f08ec04eeea8d3e62314eb67 100644
--- a/migration-exec.c
+++ b/migration-exec.c
@@ -118,6 +118,8 @@ static void exec_accept_incoming_migration(void *opaque)
     dprintf("successfully loaded vm state\n");
     /* we've successfully migrated, close the fd */
     qemu_set_fd_handler2(qemu_popen_fd(f), NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL);
+    if (autostart)
+        vm_start();
 
 err:
     qemu_fclose(f);
diff --git a/migration-tcp.c b/migration-tcp.c
index 7a87a1edaf0d680c06b8f54c57a119dd6bfcf4e7..9ed92b44270ff2a3efbf7cc36c74d1130a2872d6 100644
--- a/migration-tcp.c
+++ b/migration-tcp.c
@@ -166,6 +166,8 @@ static void tcp_accept_incoming_migration(void *opaque)
     /* we've successfully migrated, close the server socket */
     qemu_set_fd_handler2(s, NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL);
     close(s);
+    if (autostart)
+        vm_start();
 
 out_fopen:
     qemu_fclose(f);
diff --git a/sysemu.h b/sysemu.h
index 96928dce44b83655b8f9438fb5fec1689d3de560..6af88d82e169ec01dbed7191a796fd41bc9e7d1b 100644
--- a/sysemu.h
+++ b/sysemu.h
@@ -104,6 +104,7 @@ typedef enum DisplayType
     DT_NOGRAPHIC,
 } DisplayType;
 
+extern int autostart;
 extern int bios_size;
 extern int cirrus_vga_enabled;
 extern int std_vga_enabled;
diff --git a/vl.c b/vl.c
index bb56644e2ffae61f3659d0111a7d8eb7d4bf89cc..fdd4f033a88303266f9374d079ae1a7893f535d1 100644
--- a/vl.c
+++ b/vl.c
@@ -187,7 +187,7 @@ ram_addr_t ram_size;
 int nb_nics;
 NICInfo nd_table[MAX_NICS];
 int vm_running;
-static int autostart;
+int autostart;
 static int rtc_utc = 1;
 static int rtc_date_offset = -1; /* -1 means no change */
 int cirrus_vga_enabled = 1;
@@ -6091,7 +6091,7 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv, char **envp)
         qemu_start_incoming_migration(incoming);
     }
 
-    if (autostart)
+    else if (autostart)
         vm_start();
 
 #ifndef _WIN32