diff --git a/tests/vm/basevm.py b/tests/vm/basevm.py
index b5d1479bee..2929de23aa 100755
--- a/tests/vm/basevm.py
+++ b/tests/vm/basevm.py
@@ -57,6 +57,8 @@ class BaseVM(object):
     arch = "#arch"
     # command to halt the guest, can be overridden by subclasses
     poweroff = "poweroff"
+    # enable IPv6 networking
+    ipv6 = True
     def __init__(self, debug=False, vcpus=None):
         self._guest = None
         self._tmpdir = os.path.realpath(tempfile.mkdtemp(prefix="vm-test-",
@@ -81,7 +83,8 @@ class BaseVM(object):
         self._args = [ \
             "-nodefaults", "-m", "4G",
             "-cpu", "max",
-            "-netdev", "user,id=vnet,hostfwd=:127.0.0.1:0-:22",
+            "-netdev", "user,id=vnet,hostfwd=:127.0.0.1:0-:22" +
+                       (",ipv6=no" if not self.ipv6 else ""),
             "-device", "virtio-net-pci,netdev=vnet",
             "-vnc", "127.0.0.1:0,to=20"]
         if vcpus and vcpus > 1: