diff --git a/include/qemu/error-report.h b/include/qemu/error-report.h
index 14c1719ad2..3b098a9173 100644
--- a/include/qemu/error-report.h
+++ b/include/qemu/error-report.h
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@
 #define QEMU_ERROR_H
 
 #include <stdarg.h>
+#include <stdbool.h>
 #include "qemu/compiler.h"
 
 typedef struct Location {
@@ -40,5 +41,6 @@ void error_print_loc(void);
 void error_set_progname(const char *argv0);
 void error_report(const char *fmt, ...) GCC_FMT_ATTR(1, 2);
 const char *error_get_progname(void);
+extern bool enable_timestamp_msg;
 
 #endif
diff --git a/qemu-options.hx b/qemu-options.hx
index 7cc4d8ef25..4e98b4f483 100644
--- a/qemu-options.hx
+++ b/qemu-options.hx
@@ -3100,6 +3100,17 @@ property must be set.  These objects are placed in the
 '/objects' path.
 ETEXI
 
+DEF("msg", HAS_ARG, QEMU_OPTION_msg,
+    "-msg timestamp[=on|off]\n"
+    "                change the format of messages\n"
+    "                on|off controls leading timestamps (default:on)\n",
+    QEMU_ARCH_ALL)
+STEXI
+@item -msg timestamp[=on|off]
+@findex -msg
+prepend a timestamp to each log message.(default:on)
+ETEXI
+
 HXCOMM This is the last statement. Insert new options before this line!
 STEXI
 @end table
diff --git a/util/qemu-error.c b/util/qemu-error.c
index 08a36f480c..fec02c6075 100644
--- a/util/qemu-error.c
+++ b/util/qemu-error.c
@@ -196,6 +196,7 @@ void error_print_loc(void)
     }
 }
 
+bool enable_timestamp_msg;
 /*
  * Print an error message to current monitor if we have one, else to stderr.
  * Format arguments like sprintf().  The result should not contain
@@ -206,6 +207,15 @@ void error_print_loc(void)
 void error_report(const char *fmt, ...)
 {
     va_list ap;
+    GTimeVal tv;
+    gchar *timestr;
+
+    if (enable_timestamp_msg) {
+        g_get_current_time(&tv);
+        timestr = g_time_val_to_iso8601(&tv);
+        error_printf("%s ", timestr);
+        g_free(timestr);
+    }
 
     error_print_loc();
     va_start(ap, fmt);
diff --git a/vl.c b/vl.c
index bea1a10cc6..25b8f2ff38 100644
--- a/vl.c
+++ b/vl.c
@@ -516,6 +516,18 @@ static QemuOptsList qemu_realtime_opts = {
     },
 };
 
+static QemuOptsList qemu_msg_opts = {
+    .name = "msg",
+    .head = QTAILQ_HEAD_INITIALIZER(qemu_msg_opts.head),
+    .desc = {
+        {
+            .name = "timestamp",
+            .type = QEMU_OPT_BOOL,
+        },
+        { /* end of list */ }
+    },
+};
+
 /**
  * Get machine options
  *
@@ -1503,6 +1515,12 @@ static void configure_realtime(QemuOpts *opts)
     }
 }
 
+
+static void configure_msg(QemuOpts *opts)
+{
+    enable_timestamp_msg = qemu_opt_get_bool(opts, "timestamp", true);
+}
+
 /***********************************************************/
 /* USB devices */
 
@@ -2942,6 +2960,7 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv, char **envp)
     qemu_add_opts(&qemu_object_opts);
     qemu_add_opts(&qemu_tpmdev_opts);
     qemu_add_opts(&qemu_realtime_opts);
+    qemu_add_opts(&qemu_msg_opts);
 
     runstate_init();
 
@@ -3838,6 +3857,13 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv, char **envp)
                 }
                 configure_realtime(opts);
                 break;
+            case QEMU_OPTION_msg:
+                opts = qemu_opts_parse(qemu_find_opts("msg"), optarg, 0);
+                if (!opts) {
+                    exit(1);
+                }
+                configure_msg(opts);
+                break;
             default:
                 os_parse_cmd_args(popt->index, optarg);
             }