diff --git a/hw/acpi/pcihp.c b/hw/acpi/pcihp.c
index f610a25d2e..30405b5113 100644
--- a/hw/acpi/pcihp.c
+++ b/hw/acpi/pcihp.c
@@ -222,9 +222,27 @@ static void acpi_pcihp_eject_slot(AcpiPciHpState *s, unsigned bsel, unsigned slo
         PCIDevice *dev = PCI_DEVICE(qdev);
         if (PCI_SLOT(dev->devfn) == slot) {
             if (!acpi_pcihp_pc_no_hotplug(s, dev)) {
-                hotplug_ctrl = qdev_get_hotplug_handler(qdev);
-                hotplug_handler_unplug(hotplug_ctrl, qdev, &error_abort);
-                object_unparent(OBJECT(qdev));
+                /*
+                 * partially_hotplugged is used by virtio-net failover:
+                 * failover has asked the guest OS to unplug the device
+                 * but we need to keep some references to the device
+                 * to be able to plug it back in case of failure so
+                 * we don't execute hotplug_handler_unplug().
+                 */
+                if (dev->partially_hotplugged) {
+                    /*
+                     * pending_deleted_event is set to true when
+                     * virtio-net failover asks to unplug the device,
+                     * and set to false here when the operation is done
+                     * This is used by the migration loop to detect the
+                     * end of the operation and really start the migration.
+                     */
+                    qdev->pending_deleted_event = false;
+                } else {
+                    hotplug_ctrl = qdev_get_hotplug_handler(qdev);
+                    hotplug_handler_unplug(hotplug_ctrl, qdev, &error_abort);
+                    object_unparent(OBJECT(qdev));
+                }
             }
         }
     }
@@ -396,6 +414,12 @@ void acpi_pcihp_device_unplug_request_cb(HotplugHandler *hotplug_dev,
         return;
     }
 
+    /*
+     * pending_deleted_event is used by virtio-net failover to detect the
+     * end of the unplug operation, the flag is set to false in
+     * acpi_pcihp_eject_slot() when the operation is completed.
+     */
+    pdev->qdev.pending_deleted_event = true;
     s->acpi_pcihp_pci_status[bsel].down |= (1U << slot);
     acpi_send_event(DEVICE(hotplug_dev), ACPI_PCI_HOTPLUG_STATUS);
 }