diff --git a/hw/arm/virt.c b/hw/arm/virt.c
index 524eafe22d..92ab0fd094 100644
--- a/hw/arm/virt.c
+++ b/hw/arm/virt.c
@@ -521,21 +521,12 @@ static void fdt_add_gic_node(VirtMachineState *vms)
 
 static void fdt_add_pmu_nodes(const VirtMachineState *vms)
 {
-    CPUState *cpu;
-    ARMCPU *armcpu;
+    ARMCPU *armcpu = ARM_CPU(first_cpu);
     uint32_t irqflags = GIC_FDT_IRQ_FLAGS_LEVEL_HI;
 
-    CPU_FOREACH(cpu) {
-        armcpu = ARM_CPU(cpu);
-        if (!arm_feature(&armcpu->env, ARM_FEATURE_PMU)) {
-            return;
-        }
-        if (kvm_enabled()) {
-            if (kvm_irqchip_in_kernel()) {
-                kvm_arm_pmu_set_irq(cpu, PPI(VIRTUAL_PMU_IRQ));
-            }
-            kvm_arm_pmu_init(cpu);
-        }
+    if (!arm_feature(&armcpu->env, ARM_FEATURE_PMU)) {
+        assert(!object_property_get_bool(OBJECT(armcpu), "pmu", NULL));
+        return;
     }
 
     if (vms->gic_version == VIRT_GIC_VERSION_2) {
@@ -544,7 +535,6 @@ static void fdt_add_pmu_nodes(const VirtMachineState *vms)
                              (1 << vms->smp_cpus) - 1);
     }
 
-    armcpu = ARM_CPU(qemu_get_cpu(0));
     qemu_fdt_add_subnode(vms->fdt, "/pmu");
     if (arm_feature(&armcpu->env, ARM_FEATURE_V8)) {
         const char compat[] = "arm,armv8-pmuv3";
@@ -1678,11 +1668,23 @@ static void finalize_gic_version(VirtMachineState *vms)
  */
 static void virt_cpu_post_init(VirtMachineState *vms)
 {
-    bool aarch64;
+    bool aarch64, pmu;
+    CPUState *cpu;
 
     aarch64 = object_property_get_bool(OBJECT(first_cpu), "aarch64", NULL);
+    pmu = object_property_get_bool(OBJECT(first_cpu), "pmu", NULL);
 
-    if (!kvm_enabled()) {
+    if (kvm_enabled()) {
+        CPU_FOREACH(cpu) {
+            if (pmu) {
+                assert(arm_feature(&ARM_CPU(cpu)->env, ARM_FEATURE_PMU));
+                if (kvm_irqchip_in_kernel()) {
+                    kvm_arm_pmu_set_irq(cpu, PPI(VIRTUAL_PMU_IRQ));
+                }
+                kvm_arm_pmu_init(cpu);
+            }
+        }
+    } else {
         if (aarch64 && vms->highmem) {
             int requested_pa_size = 64 - clz64(vms->highest_gpa);
             int pamax = arm_pamax(ARM_CPU(first_cpu));