diff --git a/block.c b/block.c
index db0be7ef36..dd90dca896 100644
--- a/block.c
+++ b/block.c
@@ -4605,10 +4605,11 @@ void bdrv_img_create(const char *filename, const char *fmt,
         back_flags = flags;
         back_flags &= ~(BDRV_O_RDWR | BDRV_O_SNAPSHOT | BDRV_O_NO_BACKING);
 
+        backing_options = qdict_new();
         if (backing_fmt) {
-            backing_options = qdict_new();
             qdict_put_str(backing_options, "driver", backing_fmt);
         }
+        qdict_put_bool(backing_options, BDRV_OPT_FORCE_SHARE, true);
 
         bs = bdrv_open(full_backing, NULL, backing_options, back_flags,
                        &local_err);