diff --git a/Makefile.target b/Makefile.target
index 58fe88f4e8..a97edd7b95 100644
--- a/Makefile.target
+++ b/Makefile.target
@@ -554,7 +554,7 @@ ifndef CONFIG_USER_ONLY
 OBJS=vl.o osdep.o monitor.o pci.o loader.o isa_mmio.o machine.o
 # virtio has to be here due to weird dependency between PCI and virtio-net.
 # need to fix this properly
-OBJS+=virtio.o virtio-blk.o virtio-balloon.o virtio-net.o
+OBJS+=virtio.o virtio-blk.o virtio-balloon.o virtio-net.o virtio-console.o
 OBJS+=fw_cfg.o
 ifdef CONFIG_KVM
 OBJS+=kvm.o kvm-all.o
diff --git a/sysemu.h b/sysemu.h
index 47c1fea7c2..b68c04ccca 100644
--- a/sysemu.h
+++ b/sysemu.h
@@ -158,6 +158,12 @@ extern CharDriverState *serial_hds[MAX_SERIAL_PORTS];
 
 extern CharDriverState *parallel_hds[MAX_PARALLEL_PORTS];
 
+/* virtio consoles */
+
+#define MAX_VIRTIO_CONSOLES 1
+
+extern CharDriverState *virtcon_hds[MAX_VIRTIO_CONSOLES];
+
 #define TFR(expr) do { if ((expr) != -1) break; } while (errno == EINTR)
 
 #ifdef NEED_CPU_H
diff --git a/vl.c b/vl.c
index e29072b5f9..2379986877 100644
--- a/vl.c
+++ b/vl.c
@@ -209,6 +209,7 @@ static int no_frame = 0;
 int no_quit = 0;
 CharDriverState *serial_hds[MAX_SERIAL_PORTS];
 CharDriverState *parallel_hds[MAX_PARALLEL_PORTS];
+CharDriverState *virtcon_hds[MAX_VIRTIO_CONSOLES];
 #ifdef TARGET_I386
 int win2k_install_hack = 0;
 #endif
@@ -4502,6 +4503,8 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv, char **envp)
     int serial_device_index;
     const char *parallel_devices[MAX_PARALLEL_PORTS];
     int parallel_device_index;
+    const char *virtio_consoles[MAX_VIRTIO_CONSOLES];
+    int virtio_console_index;
     const char *loadvm = NULL;
     QEMUMachine *machine;
     const char *cpu_model;
@@ -4575,6 +4578,11 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv, char **envp)
         parallel_devices[i] = NULL;
     parallel_device_index = 0;
 
+    virtio_consoles[0] = "vc:80Cx24C";
+    for(i = 1; i < MAX_VIRTIO_CONSOLES; i++)
+        virtio_consoles[i] = NULL;
+    virtio_console_index = 0;
+
     usb_devices_index = 0;
 
     nb_net_clients = 0;
@@ -5170,6 +5178,8 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv, char **envp)
            parallel_devices[0] = "null";
        if (strncmp(monitor_device, "vc", 2) == 0)
            monitor_device = "stdio";
+       if (virtio_console_index == 0)
+           virtio_consoles[0] = "null";
     }
 
 #ifndef _WIN32
@@ -5464,6 +5474,22 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv, char **envp)
         }
     }
 
+    for(i = 0; i < MAX_VIRTIO_CONSOLES; i++) {
+        const char *devname = virtio_consoles[i];
+        if (devname && strcmp(devname, "none")) {
+            char label[32];
+            snprintf(label, sizeof(label), "virtcon%d", i);
+            virtcon_hds[i] = qemu_chr_open(label, devname);
+            if (!virtcon_hds[i]) {
+                fprintf(stderr, "qemu: could not open virtio console '%s'\n",
+                        devname);
+                exit(1);
+            }
+            if (strstart(devname, "vc", 0))
+                qemu_chr_printf(virtcon_hds[i], "virtio console%d\r\n", i);
+        }
+    }
+
     if (kvm_enabled()) {
         int ret;