diff --git a/modules/virtualisation/qemu-vm.nix b/modules/virtualisation/qemu-vm.nix
index ec3981a9188a..0c5d730d0d32 100644
--- a/modules/virtualisation/qemu-vm.nix
+++ b/modules/virtualisation/qemu-vm.nix
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ let
       
       # -no-kvm-irqchip is needed to prevent the CIFS mount from
       # hanging the VM on x86_64.
-      ${pkgs.qemu_kvm}/bin/qemu-system-x86_64 \
+      exec ${pkgs.qemu_kvm}/bin/qemu-system-x86_64 \
           -no-kvm-irqchip \
           -net nic,model=virtio -net user -smb / \
           -drive file=$NIX_DISK_IMAGE,if=virtio,boot=on \