diff --git a/vl.c b/vl.c
index 204d85b..1329c30 100644
--- a/vl.c
+++ b/vl.c
@@ -3206,6 +3206,10 @@
     }
     loc_set_none();
 
+    if (machine->hw_version) {
+        qemu_set_version(machine->hw_version);
+    }
+
     /* Init CPU def lists, based on config
      * - Must be called after all the qemu_read_config_file() calls
      * - Must be called before list_cpus()