diff --git a/include/hw/virtio/virtio-mem.h b/include/hw/virtio/virtio-mem.h
index b74c77cd42..0778224964 100644
--- a/include/hw/virtio/virtio-mem.h
+++ b/include/hw/virtio/virtio-mem.h
@@ -67,6 +67,9 @@ typedef struct VirtIOMEM {
 
     /* notifiers to notify when "size" changes */
     NotifierList size_change_notifiers;
+
+    /* don't migrate unplugged memory */
+    NotifierWithReturn precopy_notifier;
 } VirtIOMEM;
 
 typedef struct VirtIOMEMClass {
diff --git a/hw/virtio/virtio-mem.c b/hw/virtio/virtio-mem.c
index fdd4dbb42c..bf9b414522 100644
--- a/hw/virtio/virtio-mem.c
+++ b/hw/virtio/virtio-mem.c
@@ -62,8 +62,14 @@ static bool virtio_mem_is_busy(void)
     /*
      * Postcopy cannot handle concurrent discards and we don't want to migrate
      * pages on-demand with stale content when plugging new blocks.
+     *
+     * For precopy, we don't want unplugged blocks in our migration stream, and
+     * when plugging new blocks, the page content might differ between source
+     * and destination (observable by the guest when not initializing pages
+     * after plugging them) until we're running on the destination (as we didn't
+     * migrate these blocks when they were unplugged).
      */
-    return migration_in_incoming_postcopy();
+    return migration_in_incoming_postcopy() || !migration_is_idle();
 }
 
 static bool virtio_mem_test_bitmap(VirtIOMEM *vmem, uint64_t start_gpa,
@@ -475,6 +481,7 @@ static void virtio_mem_device_realize(DeviceState *dev, Error **errp)
     host_memory_backend_set_mapped(vmem->memdev, true);
     vmstate_register_ram(&vmem->memdev->mr, DEVICE(vmem));
     qemu_register_reset(virtio_mem_system_reset, vmem);
+    precopy_add_notifier(&vmem->precopy_notifier);
 }
 
 static void virtio_mem_device_unrealize(DeviceState *dev)
@@ -482,6 +489,7 @@ static void virtio_mem_device_unrealize(DeviceState *dev)
     VirtIODevice *vdev = VIRTIO_DEVICE(dev);
     VirtIOMEM *vmem = VIRTIO_MEM(dev);
 
+    precopy_remove_notifier(&vmem->precopy_notifier);
     qemu_unregister_reset(virtio_mem_system_reset, vmem);
     vmstate_unregister_ram(&vmem->memdev->mr, DEVICE(vmem));
     host_memory_backend_set_mapped(vmem->memdev, false);
@@ -757,12 +765,56 @@ static void virtio_mem_set_block_size(Object *obj, Visitor *v, const char *name,
     vmem->block_size = value;
 }
 
+static void virtio_mem_precopy_exclude_unplugged(VirtIOMEM *vmem)
+{
+    void * const host = qemu_ram_get_host_addr(vmem->memdev->mr.ram_block);
+    unsigned long first_zero_bit, last_zero_bit;
+    uint64_t offset, length;
+
+    /*
+     * Find consecutive unplugged blocks and exclude them from migration.
+     *
+     * Note: Blocks cannot get (un)plugged during precopy, no locking needed.
+     */
+    first_zero_bit = find_first_zero_bit(vmem->bitmap, vmem->bitmap_size);
+    while (first_zero_bit < vmem->bitmap_size) {
+        offset = first_zero_bit * vmem->block_size;
+        last_zero_bit = find_next_bit(vmem->bitmap, vmem->bitmap_size,
+                                      first_zero_bit + 1) - 1;
+        length = (last_zero_bit - first_zero_bit + 1) * vmem->block_size;
+
+        qemu_guest_free_page_hint(host + offset, length);
+        first_zero_bit = find_next_zero_bit(vmem->bitmap, vmem->bitmap_size,
+                                            last_zero_bit + 2);
+    }
+}
+
+static int virtio_mem_precopy_notify(NotifierWithReturn *n, void *data)
+{
+    VirtIOMEM *vmem = container_of(n, VirtIOMEM, precopy_notifier);
+    PrecopyNotifyData *pnd = data;
+
+    switch (pnd->reason) {
+    case PRECOPY_NOTIFY_SETUP:
+        precopy_enable_free_page_optimization();
+        break;
+    case PRECOPY_NOTIFY_AFTER_BITMAP_SYNC:
+        virtio_mem_precopy_exclude_unplugged(vmem);
+        break;
+    default:
+        break;
+    }
+
+    return 0;
+}
+
 static void virtio_mem_instance_init(Object *obj)
 {
     VirtIOMEM *vmem = VIRTIO_MEM(obj);
 
     vmem->block_size = VIRTIO_MEM_MIN_BLOCK_SIZE;
     notifier_list_init(&vmem->size_change_notifiers);
+    vmem->precopy_notifier.notify = virtio_mem_precopy_notify;
 
     object_property_add(obj, VIRTIO_MEM_SIZE_PROP, "size", virtio_mem_get_size,
                         NULL, NULL, NULL);
