diff --git a/util/oslib-posix.c b/util/oslib-posix.c
index 67c08a425e..efa4f96d56 100644
--- a/util/oslib-posix.c
+++ b/util/oslib-posix.c
@@ -564,6 +564,14 @@ static int touch_all_pages(char *area, size_t hpagesize, size_t numpages,
     }
 
     if (use_madv_populate_write) {
+        /* Avoid creating a single thread for MADV_POPULATE_WRITE */
+        if (context.num_threads == 1) {
+            if (qemu_madvise(area, hpagesize * numpages,
+                             QEMU_MADV_POPULATE_WRITE)) {
+                return -errno;
+            }
+            return 0;
+        }
         touch_fn = do_madv_populate_write_pages;
     } else {
         touch_fn = do_touch_pages;