diff --git a/tests/qemu-iotests/common.rc b/tests/qemu-iotests/common.rc
index 62529eed6e..9fd3130bde 100644
--- a/tests/qemu-iotests/common.rc
+++ b/tests/qemu-iotests/common.rc
@@ -171,7 +171,9 @@ _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  $TEST_IMG_FILE >/dev/null &"
+        # Pass a sufficiently high number to -e that should be enough for all
+        # tests
+        eval "$QEMU_NBD -v -t -b 127.0.0.1 -p 10810 -f $IMGFMT -e 42  $TEST_IMG_FILE >/dev/null &"
         sleep 1 # FIXME: qemu-nbd needs to be listening before we continue
     fi