diff --git a/hw/qdev.c b/hw/qdev.c
index 9519f5dd57..2987901983 100644
--- a/hw/qdev.c
+++ b/hw/qdev.c
@@ -468,6 +468,7 @@ void qdev_set_nic_properties(DeviceState *dev, NICInfo *nd)
         qdev_prop_exists(dev, "vectors")) {
         qdev_prop_set_uint32(dev, "vectors", nd->nvectors);
     }
+    nd->instantiated = 1;
 }
 
 BusState *qdev_get_child_bus(DeviceState *dev, const char *name)
diff --git a/net.c b/net.c
index 68c2840621..a104976b0b 100644
--- a/net.c
+++ b/net.c
@@ -1304,6 +1304,7 @@ void net_check_clients(void)
 {
     VLANState *vlan;
     VLANClientState *vc;
+    int i;
 
     /* Don't warn about the default network setup that you get if
      * no command line -net or -netdev options are specified. There
@@ -1348,6 +1349,20 @@ void net_check_clients(void)
                     vc->name);
         }
     }
+
+    /* Check that all NICs requested via -net nic actually got created.
+     * NICs created via -device don't need to be checked here because
+     * they are always instantiated.
+     */
+    for (i = 0; i < MAX_NICS; i++) {
+        NICInfo *nd = &nd_table[i];
+        if (nd->used && !nd->instantiated) {
+            fprintf(stderr, "Warning: requested NIC (%s, model %s) "
+                    "was not created (not supported by this machine?)\n",
+                    nd->name ? nd->name : "anonymous",
+                    nd->model ? nd->model : "unspecified");
+        }
+    }
 }
 
 static int net_init_client(QemuOpts *opts, void *dummy)
diff --git a/net.h b/net.h
index 6ceca50fc3..5b883a96ba 100644
--- a/net.h
+++ b/net.h
@@ -133,7 +133,8 @@ struct NICInfo {
     char *devaddr;
     VLANState *vlan;
     VLANClientState *netdev;
-    int used;
+    int used;         /* is this slot in nd_table[] being used? */
+    int instantiated; /* does this NICInfo correspond to an instantiated NIC? */
     int nvectors;
 };