diff --git a/docker/nova-compute/nova-libvirt/start.sh b/docker/nova-compute/nova-libvirt/start.sh
index d92f52ab0e7ef9ab7871a834e3cdee32f545dce4..8d45070b5e2da464725e92d67552e8a05c32d298 100755
--- a/docker/nova-compute/nova-libvirt/start.sh
+++ b/docker/nova-compute/nova-libvirt/start.sh
@@ -1,8 +1,11 @@
 #!/bin/sh
 
 # If libvirt is not installed on the host permissions need to be set
-chmod 660 /dev/kvm
-chown root:kvm /dev/kvm
+# If running in qemu, we don't need to set anything as /dev/kvm won't exist
+if [[ -c /dev/kvm ]]; then
+    chmod 660 /dev/kvm
+    chown root:kvm /dev/kvm
+fi
 
 echo "Starting libvirtd."
 exec /usr/sbin/libvirtd