diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_capabilities.c b/src/qemu/qemu_capabilities.c
index da03ff4c61..5200b39a3f 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_capabilities.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_capabilities.c
@@ -4767,7 +4767,7 @@ virQEMUCapsInitQMPCommandRun(virQEMUCapsInitQMPCommandPtr cmd,
     cmd->vm->pid = cmd->pid;
 
     if (!(cmd->mon = qemuMonitorOpen(cmd->vm, &cmd->config, true,
-                                     &callbacks, NULL)))
+                                     0, &callbacks, NULL)))
         goto ignore;
 
     virObjectLock(cmd->mon);
diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_monitor.c b/src/qemu/qemu_monitor.c
index d71f84c800..066d3444bb 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_monitor.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_monitor.c
@@ -327,11 +327,13 @@ qemuMonitorDispose(void *obj)
 
 
 static int
-qemuMonitorOpenUnix(const char *monitor, pid_t cpid)
+qemuMonitorOpenUnix(const char *monitor,
+                    pid_t cpid,
+                    unsigned long long timeout)
 {
     struct sockaddr_un addr;
     int monfd;
-    virTimeBackOffVar timeout;
+    virTimeBackOffVar timebackoff;
     int ret = -1;
 
     if ((monfd = socket(AF_UNIX, SOCK_STREAM, 0)) < 0) {
@@ -348,9 +350,9 @@ qemuMonitorOpenUnix(const char *monitor, pid_t cpid)
         goto error;
     }
 
-    if (virTimeBackOffStart(&timeout, 1, 30*1000 /* ms */) < 0)
+    if (virTimeBackOffStart(&timebackoff, 1, timeout * 1000) < 0)
         goto error;
-    while (virTimeBackOffWait(&timeout)) {
+    while (virTimeBackOffWait(&timebackoff)) {
         ret = connect(monfd, (struct sockaddr *) &addr, sizeof(addr));
 
         if (ret == 0)
@@ -871,10 +873,30 @@ qemuMonitorOpenInternal(virDomainObjPtr vm,
 }
 
 
+#define QEMU_DEFAULT_MONITOR_WAIT 30
+
+/**
+ * qemuMonitorOpen:
+ * @vm: domain object
+ * @config: monitor configuration
+ * @json: enable JSON on the monitor
+ * @timeout: number of seconds to add to default timeout
+ * @cb: monitor event handles
+ * @opaque: opaque data for @cb
+ *
+ * Opens the monitor for running qemu. It may happen that it
+ * takes some time for qemu to create the monitor socket (e.g.
+ * because kernel is zeroing configured hugepages), therefore we
+ * wait up to default + timeout seconds for the monitor to show
+ * up after which a failure is claimed.
+ *
+ * Returns monitor object, NULL on error.
+ */
 qemuMonitorPtr
 qemuMonitorOpen(virDomainObjPtr vm,
                 virDomainChrSourceDefPtr config,
                 bool json,
+                unsigned long long timeout,
                 qemuMonitorCallbacksPtr cb,
                 void *opaque)
 {
@@ -882,10 +904,14 @@ qemuMonitorOpen(virDomainObjPtr vm,
     bool hasSendFD = false;
     qemuMonitorPtr ret;
 
+    timeout += QEMU_DEFAULT_MONITOR_WAIT;
+
     switch (config->type) {
     case VIR_DOMAIN_CHR_TYPE_UNIX:
         hasSendFD = true;
-        if ((fd = qemuMonitorOpenUnix(config->data.nix.path, vm ? vm->pid : 0)) < 0)
+        if ((fd = qemuMonitorOpenUnix(config->data.nix.path,
+                                      vm ? vm->pid : 0,
+                                      timeout)) < 0)
             return NULL;
         break;
 
diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_monitor.h b/src/qemu/qemu_monitor.h
index 847e9458a5..3c37a6ffe3 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_monitor.h
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_monitor.h
@@ -246,6 +246,7 @@ char *qemuMonitorUnescapeArg(const char *in);
 qemuMonitorPtr qemuMonitorOpen(virDomainObjPtr vm,
                                virDomainChrSourceDefPtr config,
                                bool json,
+                               unsigned long long timeout,
                                qemuMonitorCallbacksPtr cb,
                                void *opaque)
     ATTRIBUTE_NONNULL(1) ATTRIBUTE_NONNULL(2) ATTRIBUTE_NONNULL(4);
diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_process.c b/src/qemu/qemu_process.c
index b9c1847bba..7397f59c7a 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_process.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_process.c
@@ -1658,6 +1658,7 @@ qemuConnectMonitor(virQEMUDriverPtr driver, virDomainObjPtr vm, int asyncJob,
     qemuDomainObjPrivatePtr priv = vm->privateData;
     int ret = -1;
     qemuMonitorPtr mon = NULL;
+    unsigned long long timeout = 0;
 
     if (qemuSecuritySetDaemonSocketLabel(driver->securityManager, vm->def) < 0) {
         VIR_ERROR(_("Failed to set security context for monitor for %s"),
@@ -1665,6 +1666,12 @@ qemuConnectMonitor(virQEMUDriverPtr driver, virDomainObjPtr vm, int asyncJob,
         return -1;
     }
 
+    /* When using hugepages, kernel zeroes them out before
+     * handing them over to qemu. This can be very time
+     * consuming. Therefore, add a second to timeout for each
+     * 1GiB of guest RAM. */
+    timeout = vm->def->mem.total_memory / (1024 * 1024);
+
     /* Hold an extra reference because we can't allow 'vm' to be
      * deleted until the monitor gets its own reference. */
     virObjectRef(vm);
@@ -1675,6 +1682,7 @@ qemuConnectMonitor(virQEMUDriverPtr driver, virDomainObjPtr vm, int asyncJob,
     mon = qemuMonitorOpen(vm,
                           priv->monConfig,
                           priv->monJSON,
+                          timeout,
                           &monitorCallbacks,
                           driver);
 
diff --git a/tests/qemumonitortestutils.c b/tests/qemumonitortestutils.c
index cfd0a38cbb..89857a6620 100644
--- a/tests/qemumonitortestutils.c
+++ b/tests/qemumonitortestutils.c
@@ -1175,6 +1175,7 @@ qemuMonitorTestNew(bool json,
     if (!(test->mon = qemuMonitorOpen(test->vm,
                                       &src,
                                       json,
+                                      0,
                                       &qemuMonitorTestCallbacks,
                                       driver)))
         goto error;