diff --git a/pkgs/applications/virtualization/qemu/default.nix b/pkgs/applications/virtualization/qemu/default.nix
index 2955b2272980..059057bc497b 100644
--- a/pkgs/applications/virtualization/qemu/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/applications/virtualization/qemu/default.nix
@@ -283,6 +283,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     homepage = "http://www.qemu.org/";
     description = "A generic and open source machine emulator and virtualizer";
     license = licenses.gpl2Plus;
+    mainProgram = "qemu-kvm";
     maintainers = with maintainers; [ eelco qyliss ];
     platforms = platforms.unix;
   };