diff --git a/os-posix.c b/os-posix.c
index 560db955cb..0f59566639 100644
--- a/os-posix.c
+++ b/os-posix.c
@@ -41,7 +41,14 @@
 #include <sys/prctl.h>
 #endif
 
-static struct passwd *user_pwd;
+/*
+ * Must set all three of these at once.
+ * Legal combinations are              unset   by name   by uid
+ */
+static struct passwd *user_pwd;    /*   NULL   non-NULL   NULL   */
+static uid_t user_uid = (uid_t)-1; /*   -1      -1        >=0    */
+static gid_t user_gid = (gid_t)-1; /*   -1      -1        >=0    */
+
 static const char *chroot_dir;
 static int daemonize;
 static int daemon_pipe;
@@ -127,6 +134,33 @@ void os_set_proc_name(const char *s)
 #endif
 }
 
+
+static bool os_parse_runas_uid_gid(const char *optarg)
+{
+    unsigned long lv;
+    const char *ep;
+    uid_t got_uid;
+    gid_t got_gid;
+    int rc;
+
+    rc = qemu_strtoul(optarg, &ep, 0, &lv);
+    got_uid = lv; /* overflow here is ID in C99 */
+    if (rc || *ep != ':' || got_uid != lv || got_uid == (uid_t)-1) {
+        return false;
+    }
+
+    rc = qemu_strtoul(ep + 1, 0, 0, &lv);
+    got_gid = lv; /* overflow here is ID in C99 */
+    if (rc || got_gid != lv || got_gid == (gid_t)-1) {
+        return false;
+    }
+
+    user_pwd = NULL;
+    user_uid = got_uid;
+    user_gid = got_gid;
+    return true;
+}
+
 /*
  * Parse OS specific command line options.
  * return 0 if option handled, -1 otherwise
@@ -144,8 +178,13 @@ void os_parse_cmd_args(int index, const char *optarg)
 #endif
     case QEMU_OPTION_runas:
         user_pwd = getpwnam(optarg);
-        if (!user_pwd) {
-            fprintf(stderr, "User \"%s\" doesn't exist\n", optarg);
+        if (user_pwd) {
+            user_uid = -1;
+            user_gid = -1;
+        } else if (!os_parse_runas_uid_gid(optarg)) {
+            error_report("User \"%s\" doesn't exist"
+                         " (and is not <uid>:<gid>)",
+                         optarg);
             exit(1);
         }
         break;
@@ -165,18 +204,32 @@ void os_parse_cmd_args(int index, const char *optarg)
 
 static void change_process_uid(void)
 {
-    if (user_pwd) {
-        if (setgid(user_pwd->pw_gid) < 0) {
-            error_report("Failed to setgid(%d)", user_pwd->pw_gid);
+    assert((user_uid == (uid_t)-1) || user_pwd == NULL);
+    assert((user_uid == (uid_t)-1) ==
+           (user_gid == (gid_t)-1));
+
+    if (user_pwd || user_uid != (uid_t)-1) {
+        gid_t intended_gid = user_pwd ? user_pwd->pw_gid : user_gid;
+        uid_t intended_uid = user_pwd ? user_pwd->pw_uid : user_uid;
+        if (setgid(intended_gid) < 0) {
+            error_report("Failed to setgid(%d)", intended_gid);
             exit(1);
         }
-        if (initgroups(user_pwd->pw_name, user_pwd->pw_gid) < 0) {
-            error_report("Failed to initgroups(\"%s\", %d)",
-                         user_pwd->pw_name, user_pwd->pw_gid);
-            exit(1);
+        if (user_pwd) {
+            if (initgroups(user_pwd->pw_name, user_pwd->pw_gid) < 0) {
+                error_report("Failed to initgroups(\"%s\", %d)",
+                        user_pwd->pw_name, user_pwd->pw_gid);
+                exit(1);
+            }
+        } else {
+            if (setgroups(1, &user_gid) < 0) {
+                error_report("Failed to setgroups(1, [%d])",
+                        user_gid);
+                exit(1);
+            }
         }
-        if (setuid(user_pwd->pw_uid) < 0) {
-            error_report("Failed to setuid(%d)", user_pwd->pw_uid);
+        if (setuid(intended_uid) < 0) {
+            error_report("Failed to setuid(%d)", intended_uid);
             exit(1);
         }
         if (setuid(0) != -1) {
diff --git a/qemu-options.hx b/qemu-options.hx
index ca4e412f2f..5fbf966292 100644
--- a/qemu-options.hx
+++ b/qemu-options.hx
@@ -3765,7 +3765,8 @@ ETEXI
 
 #ifndef _WIN32
 DEF("runas", HAS_ARG, QEMU_OPTION_runas, \
-    "-runas user     change to user id user just before starting the VM\n",
+    "-runas user     change to user id user just before starting the VM\n" \
+    "                user can be numeric uid:gid instead\n",
     QEMU_ARCH_ALL)
 #endif
 STEXI