diff --git a/QEMU-gvm-vcpupin/vl.c b/QEMU-gvm-vcpupin/vl.c
index 6e20948d7..e6f016be5 100644
--- a/QEMU-gvm-vcpupin/vl.c
+++ b/QEMU-gvm-vcpupin/vl.c
@@ -4344,6 +4344,8 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv, char **envp)
     }
     printf("]\n");
 
+    start_io_router();
+
     machine_class->max_cpus = machine_class->max_cpus ?: 1; /* Default to UP */
     if (max_cpus > machine_class->max_cpus) {
         error_report("Number of SMP CPUs requested (%d) exceeds max CPUs "
@@ -4848,8 +4850,6 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv, char **envp)
         return 0;
     }
 
-    start_io_router();
-
     if (incoming) {
         Error *local_err = NULL;
         qemu_start_incoming_migration(incoming, &local_err);