diff --git a/hw/block/nvme.c b/hw/block/nvme.c
index d5bf95b79b..156ecf3c41 100644
--- a/hw/block/nvme.c
+++ b/hw/block/nvme.c
@@ -18,7 +18,8 @@
  * Usage: add options:
  *      -drive file=<file>,if=none,id=<drive_id>
  *      -device nvme,drive=<drive_id>,serial=<serial>,id=<id[optional]>, \
- *              cmb_size_mb=<cmb_size_mb[optional]>
+ *              cmb_size_mb=<cmb_size_mb[optional]>, \
+ *              num_queues=<N[optional]>
  *
  * Note cmb_size_mb denotes size of CMB in MB. CMB is assumed to be at
  * offset 0 in BAR2 and supports only WDS, RDS and SQS for now.
@@ -1232,7 +1233,6 @@ static void nvme_realize(PCIDevice *pci_dev, Error **errp)
     pcie_endpoint_cap_init(&n->parent_obj, 0x80);
 
     n->num_namespaces = 1;
-    n->num_queues = 64;
     n->reg_size = pow2ceil(0x1004 + 2 * (n->num_queues + 1) * 4);
     n->ns_size = bs_size / (uint64_t)n->num_namespaces;
 
@@ -1341,6 +1341,7 @@ static Property nvme_props[] = {
     DEFINE_BLOCK_PROPERTIES(NvmeCtrl, conf),
     DEFINE_PROP_STRING("serial", NvmeCtrl, serial),
     DEFINE_PROP_UINT32("cmb_size_mb", NvmeCtrl, cmb_size_mb, 0),
+    DEFINE_PROP_UINT32("num_queues", NvmeCtrl, num_queues, 64),
     DEFINE_PROP_END_OF_LIST(),
 };