diff --git a/hw/i386/pc_q35.c b/hw/i386/pc_q35.c
index d7b7c3bf9a..464a8924c8 100644
--- a/hw/i386/pc_q35.c
+++ b/hw/i386/pc_q35.c
@@ -76,6 +76,11 @@ static void pc_q35_init(QEMUMachineInitArgs *args)
     DeviceState *icc_bridge;
     PcGuestInfo *guest_info;
 
+    if (xen_enabled() && xen_hvm_init(&ram_memory) != 0) {
+        fprintf(stderr, "xen hardware virtual machine initialisation failed\n");
+        exit(1);
+    }
+
     icc_bridge = qdev_create(NULL, TYPE_ICC_BRIDGE);
     object_property_add_child(qdev_get_machine(), "icc-bridge",
                               OBJECT(icc_bridge), NULL);