diff --git a/aio-posix.c b/aio-posix.c
index 55706f8205..798a3ff532 100644
--- a/aio-posix.c
+++ b/aio-posix.c
@@ -264,6 +264,10 @@ bool aio_poll(AioContext *ctx, bool blocking)
 
     /* Run dispatch even if there were no readable fds to run timers */
     aio_set_dispatching(ctx, true);
+    if (aio_bh_poll(ctx)) {
+        progress = true;
+    }
+
     if (aio_dispatch(ctx)) {
         progress = true;
     }
diff --git a/aio-win32.c b/aio-win32.c
index 5e37b42530..2ac38a897c 100644
--- a/aio-win32.c
+++ b/aio-win32.c
@@ -143,7 +143,7 @@ bool aio_poll(AioContext *ctx, bool blocking)
 {
     AioHandler *node;
     HANDLE events[MAXIMUM_WAIT_OBJECTS + 1];
-    bool progress;
+    bool progress, first;
     int count;
     int timeout;
 
@@ -177,6 +177,7 @@ bool aio_poll(AioContext *ctx, bool blocking)
     }
 
     ctx->walking_handlers--;
+    first = true;
 
     /* wait until next event */
     while (count > 0) {
@@ -186,6 +187,11 @@ bool aio_poll(AioContext *ctx, bool blocking)
             ? qemu_timeout_ns_to_ms(aio_compute_timeout(ctx)) : 0;
         ret = WaitForMultipleObjects(count, events, FALSE, timeout);
 
+        if (first && aio_bh_poll(ctx)) {
+            progress = true;
+        }
+        first = false;
+
         /* if we have any signaled events, dispatch event */
         if ((DWORD) (ret - WAIT_OBJECT_0) >= count) {
             break;