diff --git a/tests/qemu-iotests/common.rc b/tests/qemu-iotests/common.rc
index 6c0fd4cc61..08065dceae 100644
--- a/tests/qemu-iotests/common.rc
+++ b/tests/qemu-iotests/common.rc
@@ -172,7 +172,7 @@ _make_test_img()
 
     # Start an NBD server on the image file, which is what we'll be talking to
     if [ $IMGPROTO = "nbd" ]; then
-        eval "$QEMU_NBD -v -t -b 127.0.0.1 -p 10810 -f $IMGFMT  $TEST_IMG_FILE &"
+        eval "$QEMU_NBD -v -t -b 127.0.0.1 -p 10810 -f $IMGFMT  $TEST_IMG_FILE >/dev/null &"
         sleep 1 # FIXME: qemu-nbd needs to be listening before we continue
     fi
 }