diff --git a/aio-posix.c b/aio-posix.c
index 6006122e0b..43162a9f29 100644
--- a/aio-posix.c
+++ b/aio-posix.c
@@ -485,12 +485,13 @@ bool aio_poll(AioContext *ctx, bool blocking)
     return progress;
 }
 
-void aio_context_setup(AioContext *ctx, Error **errp)
+void aio_context_setup(AioContext *ctx)
 {
 #ifdef CONFIG_EPOLL_CREATE1
     assert(!ctx->epollfd);
     ctx->epollfd = epoll_create1(EPOLL_CLOEXEC);
     if (ctx->epollfd == -1) {
+        fprintf(stderr, "Failed to create epoll instance: %s", strerror(errno));
         ctx->epoll_available = false;
     } else {
         ctx->epoll_available = true;
diff --git a/aio-win32.c b/aio-win32.c
index 6aaa32a147..c8c249e260 100644
--- a/aio-win32.c
+++ b/aio-win32.c
@@ -371,6 +371,6 @@ bool aio_poll(AioContext *ctx, bool blocking)
     return progress;
 }
 
-void aio_context_setup(AioContext *ctx, Error **errp)
+void aio_context_setup(AioContext *ctx)
 {
 }
diff --git a/async.c b/async.c
index 0e0efc340a..3bca9b0adb 100644
--- a/async.c
+++ b/async.c
@@ -347,14 +347,10 @@ AioContext *aio_context_new(Error **errp)
 {
     int ret;
     AioContext *ctx;
-    Error *local_err = NULL;
 
     ctx = (AioContext *) g_source_new(&aio_source_funcs, sizeof(AioContext));
-    aio_context_setup(ctx, &local_err);
-    if (local_err) {
-        error_propagate(errp, local_err);
-        goto fail;
-    }
+    aio_context_setup(ctx);
+
     ret = event_notifier_init(&ctx->notifier, false);
     if (ret < 0) {
         error_setg_errno(errp, -ret, "Failed to initialize event notifier");
diff --git a/include/block/aio.h b/include/block/aio.h
index afd72a7516..209551deb2 100644
--- a/include/block/aio.h
+++ b/include/block/aio.h
@@ -452,6 +452,6 @@ static inline bool aio_node_check(AioContext *ctx, bool is_external)
  *
  * Initialize the aio context.
  */
-void aio_context_setup(AioContext *ctx, Error **errp);
+void aio_context_setup(AioContext *ctx);
 
 #endif