diff --git a/pcsx2-qt/MainWindow.cpp b/pcsx2-qt/MainWindow.cpp
index 53bab7b29c..8e0202b06b 100644
--- a/pcsx2-qt/MainWindow.cpp
+++ b/pcsx2-qt/MainWindow.cpp
@@ -598,6 +598,10 @@ void MainWindow::updateEmulationActions(bool starting, bool running)
 
 	if (!starting && !running)
 		m_ui.actionPause->setChecked(false);
+
+	// scanning needs to be disabled while running
+	m_ui.actionScanForNewGames->setDisabled(starting_or_running);
+	m_ui.actionRescanAllGames->setDisabled(starting_or_running);
 }
 
 void MainWindow::updateStatusBarWidgetVisibility()
@@ -728,6 +732,10 @@ void MainWindow::switchToEmulationView()
 
 void MainWindow::refreshGameList(bool invalidate_cache)
 {
+	// can't do this while the VM is running because of CDVD
+	if (m_vm_valid)
+		return;
+
 	m_game_list_widget->refresh(invalidate_cache);
 }
 
diff --git a/pcsx2/Frontend/GameList.cpp b/pcsx2/Frontend/GameList.cpp
index 49e566a189..93ad09ed7d 100644
--- a/pcsx2/Frontend/GameList.cpp
+++ b/pcsx2/Frontend/GameList.cpp
@@ -494,6 +494,8 @@ void GameList::ScanDirectory(const char* path, bool recursive, const std::vector
 	progress->SetProgressRange(static_cast<u32>(files.size()));
 	progress->SetProgressValue(0);
 
+	u32 cached_files = 0;
+
 	for (FILESYSTEM_FIND_DATA& ffd : files)
 	{
 		if (progress->IsCancelled() || !GameList::IsScannableFilename(ffd.FileName) ||
diff --git a/pcsx2/VMManager.cpp b/pcsx2/VMManager.cpp
index 2eae155704..5aa899494a 100644
--- a/pcsx2/VMManager.cpp
+++ b/pcsx2/VMManager.cpp
@@ -606,6 +606,12 @@ bool VMManager::Initialize(const VMBootParameters& boot_params)
 {
 	const Common::Timer init_timer;
 	pxAssertRel(s_state.load() == VMState::Shutdown, "VM is shutdown");
+
+	// cancel any game list scanning, we need to use CDVD!
+	// TODO: we can get rid of this once, we make CDVD not use globals...
+	// (or make it thread-local, but that seems silly.)
+	Host::CancelGameListRefresh();
+
 	s_state.store(VMState::Initializing);
 	Host::OnVMStarting();