diff --git a/hw/virtio/virtio-pci.c b/hw/virtio/virtio-pci.c
index 521ba0b415..21c2b9dbfc 100644
--- a/hw/virtio/virtio-pci.c
+++ b/hw/virtio/virtio-pci.c
@@ -1580,7 +1580,8 @@ static void virtio_pci_device_plugged(DeviceState *d, Error **errp)
      * Virtio capabilities present without
      * VIRTIO_F_VERSION_1 confuses guests
      */
-    if (!virtio_has_feature(vdev->host_features, VIRTIO_F_VERSION_1)) {
+    if (!proxy->ignore_backend_features &&
+            !virtio_has_feature(vdev->host_features, VIRTIO_F_VERSION_1)) {
         virtio_pci_disable_modern(proxy);
 
         if (!legacy) {
@@ -1852,6 +1853,8 @@ static Property virtio_pci_properties[] = {
                     VIRTIO_PCI_FLAG_DISABLE_PCIE_BIT, false),
     DEFINE_PROP_BIT("page-per-vq", VirtIOPCIProxy, flags,
                     VIRTIO_PCI_FLAG_PAGE_PER_VQ_BIT, false),
+    DEFINE_PROP_BOOL("x-ignore-backend-features", VirtIOPCIProxy,
+                     ignore_backend_features, false),
     DEFINE_PROP_END_OF_LIST(),
 };
 
diff --git a/hw/virtio/virtio-pci.h b/hw/virtio/virtio-pci.h
index b2a996fa83..5e078866c4 100644
--- a/hw/virtio/virtio-pci.h
+++ b/hw/virtio/virtio-pci.h
@@ -153,6 +153,7 @@ struct VirtIOPCIProxy {
     int config_cap;
     uint32_t flags;
     bool disable_modern;
+    bool ignore_backend_features;
     OnOffAuto disable_legacy;
     uint32_t class_code;
     uint32_t nvectors;
diff --git a/include/hw/compat.h b/include/hw/compat.h
index 0f06e113be..8dfc7a38c0 100644
--- a/include/hw/compat.h
+++ b/include/hw/compat.h
@@ -18,6 +18,10 @@
         .driver   = "intel-iommu",\
         .property = "x-buggy-eim",\
         .value    = "true",\
+    },{\
+        .driver   = "virtio-pci",\
+        .property = "x-ignore-backend-features",\
+        .value    = "on",\
     },
 
 #define HW_COMPAT_2_6 \