diff --git a/hw/s390x/s390-virtio-ccw.c b/hw/s390x/s390-virtio-ccw.c
index 4d0c3deba6..8726b4c281 100644
--- a/hw/s390x/s390-virtio-ccw.c
+++ b/hw/s390x/s390-virtio-ccw.c
@@ -254,8 +254,10 @@ static void s390_init_ipl_dev(const char *kernel_filename,
     }
     qdev_prop_set_string(dev, "cmdline", kernel_cmdline);
     qdev_prop_set_string(dev, "firmware", firmware);
-    qdev_prop_set_string(dev, "netboot_fw", netboot_fw);
     qdev_prop_set_bit(dev, "enforce_bios", enforce_bios);
+    if (!strlen(object_property_get_str(new, "netboot_fw", &error_abort))) {
+        qdev_prop_set_string(dev, "netboot_fw", netboot_fw);
+    }
     object_property_add_child(qdev_get_machine(), TYPE_S390_IPL,
                               new, NULL);
     object_unref(new);