diff --git a/hw/hw.h b/hw/hw.h
index 3589adee37..2a461026e1 100644
--- a/hw/hw.h
+++ b/hw/hw.h
@@ -92,6 +92,12 @@ typedef void QEMUResetHandler(void *opaque);
 
 void qemu_register_reset(QEMUResetHandler *func, void *opaque);
 
+/* handler to set the boot_device for a specific type of QEMUMachine */
+/* return 0 if success */
+typedef int QEMUBootSetHandler(const char *boot_device);
+extern QEMUBootSetHandler *qemu_boot_set_handler;
+void qemu_register_boot_set(QEMUBootSetHandler *func);
+
 /* These should really be in isa.h, but are here to make pc.h happy.  */
 typedef void (IOPortWriteFunc)(void *opaque, uint32_t address, uint32_t data);
 typedef uint32_t (IOPortReadFunc)(void *opaque, uint32_t address);
diff --git a/hw/pc.c b/hw/pc.c
index 5d5a764bb2..265ced4809 100644
--- a/hw/pc.c
+++ b/hw/pc.c
@@ -189,6 +189,33 @@ static int boot_device2nibble(char boot_device)
     return 0;
 }
 
+/* copy/pasted from cmos_init, should be made a general function
+ and used there as well */
+int pc_boot_set(const char *boot_device)
+{
+#define PC_MAX_BOOT_DEVICES 3
+    RTCState *s = rtc_state;
+    int nbds, bds[3] = { 0, };
+    int i;
+
+    nbds = strlen(boot_device);
+    if (nbds > PC_MAX_BOOT_DEVICES) {
+        term_printf("Too many boot devices for PC\n");
+        return(1);
+    }
+    for (i = 0; i < nbds; i++) {
+        bds[i] = boot_device2nibble(boot_device[i]);
+        if (bds[i] == 0) {
+            term_printf("Invalid boot device for PC: '%c'\n",
+                    boot_device[i]);
+            return(1);
+        }
+    }
+    rtc_set_memory(s, 0x3d, (bds[1] << 4) | bds[0]);
+    rtc_set_memory(s, 0x38, (bds[2] << 4));
+    return(0);
+}
+
 /* hd_table must contain 4 block drivers */
 static void cmos_init(ram_addr_t ram_size, ram_addr_t above_4g_mem_size,
                       const char *boot_device, BlockDriverState **hd_table)
@@ -713,6 +740,8 @@ static void pc_init1(ram_addr_t ram_size, int vga_ram_size,
         below_4g_mem_size = ram_size;
     }
 
+    qemu_register_boot_set(pc_boot_set);
+
     linux_boot = (kernel_filename != NULL);
 
     /* init CPUs */
diff --git a/monitor.c b/monitor.c
index fab3f71b1b..236b827df5 100644
--- a/monitor.c
+++ b/monitor.c
@@ -1019,6 +1019,21 @@ static void do_ioport_read(int count, int format, int size, int addr, int has_in
                 suffix, addr, size * 2, val);
 }
 
+static void do_boot_set(const char *bootdevice)
+{
+    int res;
+
+    if (qemu_boot_set_handler)  {
+        res = qemu_boot_set_handler(bootdevice);
+        if (res == 0)
+            term_printf("boot device list now set to %s\n", bootdevice);
+        else
+            term_printf("setting boot device list failed with error %i\n", res);
+    } else {
+        term_printf("no function defined to set boot device list for this architecture\n");
+    }
+}
+
 static void do_system_reset(void)
 {
     qemu_system_reset_request();
@@ -1369,6 +1384,8 @@ static term_cmd_t term_cmds[] = {
       "addr size file", "save to disk virtual memory dump starting at 'addr' of size 'size'", },
     { "pmemsave", "lis", do_physical_memory_save,
       "addr size file", "save to disk physical memory dump starting at 'addr' of size 'size'", },
+    { "boot_set", "s", do_boot_set,
+      "bootdevice", "define new values for the boot device list" },
 #if defined(TARGET_I386)
     { "nmi", "i", do_inject_nmi,
       "cpu", "inject an NMI on the given CPU", },
diff --git a/qemu-doc.texi b/qemu-doc.texi
index 1f409f47f4..527d3b6954 100644
--- a/qemu-doc.texi
+++ b/qemu-doc.texi
@@ -1259,6 +1259,14 @@ intercepts at low level, such as @code{ctrl-alt-f1} in X Window.
 
 Reset the system.
 
+@item boot_set @var{bootdevicelist}
+
+Define new values for the boot device list. Those values will override
+the values specified on the command line through the @code{-boot} option.
+
+The values that can be specified here depend on the machine type, but are
+the same that can be specified in the @code{-boot} command line option.
+
 @item usb_add @var{devname}
 
 Add the USB device @var{devname}.  For details of available devices see
diff --git a/vl.c b/vl.c
index 1795db30f0..30d31cca1e 100644
--- a/vl.c
+++ b/vl.c
@@ -6855,6 +6855,14 @@ void qemu_system_powerdown_request(void)
         cpu_interrupt(cpu_single_env, CPU_INTERRUPT_EXIT);
 }
 
+/* boot_set handler */
+QEMUBootSetHandler *qemu_boot_set_handler = NULL;
+
+void qemu_register_boot_set(QEMUBootSetHandler *func)
+{
+	qemu_boot_set_handler = func;
+}
+
 void main_loop_wait(int timeout)
 {
     IOHandlerRecord *ioh;