diff --git a/tests/qemu-iotests/common.rc b/tests/qemu-iotests/common.rc
index 93f87389b6..5502c3da2f 100644
--- a/tests/qemu-iotests/common.rc
+++ b/tests/qemu-iotests/common.rc
@@ -105,10 +105,8 @@ _qemu_io_wrapper()
 
 _qemu_nbd_wrapper()
 {
-    (
-        echo $BASHPID > "${QEMU_TEST_DIR}/qemu-nbd.pid"
-        exec "$QEMU_NBD_PROG" $QEMU_NBD_OPTIONS "$@"
-    )
+    "$QEMU_NBD_PROG" --pid-file="${QEMU_TEST_DIR}/qemu-nbd.pid" \
+                     $QEMU_NBD_OPTIONS "$@"
 }
 
 _qemu_vxhs_wrapper()