diff --git a/hw/virtio/vhost.c b/hw/virtio/vhost.c
index 7e1f556994..fb7abc9769 100644
--- a/hw/virtio/vhost.c
+++ b/hw/virtio/vhost.c
@@ -1941,7 +1941,8 @@ int vhost_dev_start(struct vhost_dev *hdev, VirtIODevice *vdev, bool vrings)
     r = event_notifier_init(
         &hdev->vqs[VHOST_QUEUE_NUM_CONFIG_INR].masked_config_notifier, 0);
     if (r < 0) {
-        return r;
+        VHOST_OPS_DEBUG(r, "event_notifier_init failed");
+        goto fail_vq;
     }
     event_notifier_test_and_clear(
         &hdev->vqs[VHOST_QUEUE_NUM_CONFIG_INR].masked_config_notifier);