diff --git a/hw/arm/virt-acpi-build.c b/hw/arm/virt-acpi-build.c
index 295ec86..8b3083e 100644
--- a/hw/arm/virt-acpi-build.c
+++ b/hw/arm/virt-acpi-build.c
@@ -540,7 +540,7 @@ build_madt(GArray *table_data, BIOSLinker *linker, VirtGuestInfo *guest_info)
         gicc->uid = i;
         gicc->flags = cpu_to_le32(ACPI_GICC_ENABLED);
 
-        if (armcpu->has_pmu) {
+        if (arm_feature(&armcpu->env, ARM_FEATURE_PMU)) {
             gicc->performance_interrupt = cpu_to_le32(PPI(VIRTUAL_PMU_IRQ));
         }
     }
diff --git a/hw/arm/virt.c b/hw/arm/virt.c
index a193b5a..a781ad0 100644
--- a/hw/arm/virt.c
+++ b/hw/arm/virt.c
@@ -477,7 +477,7 @@ static void fdt_add_pmu_nodes(const VirtBoardInfo *vbi, int gictype)
 
     CPU_FOREACH(cpu) {
         armcpu = ARM_CPU(cpu);
-        if (!armcpu->has_pmu ||
+        if (!arm_feature(&armcpu->env, ARM_FEATURE_PMU) ||
             !kvm_arm_pmu_create(cpu, PPI(VIRTUAL_PMU_IRQ))) {
             return;
         }
diff --git a/target-arm/cpu.c b/target-arm/cpu.c
index ce8b8f4..d304597 100644
--- a/target-arm/cpu.c
+++ b/target-arm/cpu.c
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@
  */
 
 #include "qemu/osdep.h"
+#include "qemu/error-report.h"
 #include "qapi/error.h"
 #include "cpu.h"
 #include "internals.h"
@@ -509,6 +510,10 @@ static Property arm_cpu_rvbar_property =
 static Property arm_cpu_has_el3_property =
             DEFINE_PROP_BOOL("has_el3", ARMCPU, has_el3, true);
 
+/* use property name "pmu" to match other archs and virt tools */
+static Property arm_cpu_has_pmu_property =
+    DEFINE_PROP_BOOL("pmu", ARMCPU, has_pmu, false);
+
 static Property arm_cpu_has_mpu_property =
             DEFINE_PROP_BOOL("has-mpu", ARMCPU, has_mpu, true);
 
@@ -552,6 +557,11 @@ static void arm_cpu_post_init(Object *obj)
 #endif
     }
 
+    if (arm_feature(&cpu->env, ARM_FEATURE_PMU)) {
+        qdev_property_add_static(DEVICE(obj), &arm_cpu_has_pmu_property,
+                                 &error_abort);
+    }
+
     if (arm_feature(&cpu->env, ARM_FEATURE_MPU)) {
         qdev_property_add_static(DEVICE(obj), &arm_cpu_has_mpu_property,
                                  &error_abort);
@@ -576,6 +586,7 @@ static void arm_cpu_realizefn(DeviceState *dev, Error **errp)
     ARMCPU *cpu = ARM_CPU(dev);
     ARMCPUClass *acc = ARM_CPU_GET_CLASS(dev);
     CPUARMState *env = &cpu->env;
+    static bool pmu_warned;
 
     /* Some features automatically imply others: */
     if (arm_feature(env, ARM_FEATURE_V8)) {
@@ -648,6 +659,17 @@ static void arm_cpu_realizefn(DeviceState *dev, Error **errp)
         cpu->id_aa64pfr0 &= ~0xf000;
     }
 
+    if (cpu->has_pmu && !kvm_enabled()) {
+        cpu->has_pmu = false;
+        if (!pmu_warned) {
+            error_report("warning: pmu can't be enabled without KVM acceleration");
+            pmu_warned = true;
+        }
+    }
+    if (!cpu->has_pmu) {
+        unset_feature(env, ARM_FEATURE_PMU);
+    }
+
     if (!arm_feature(env, ARM_FEATURE_EL2)) {
         /* Disable the hypervisor feature bits in the processor feature
          * registers if we don't have EL2. These are id_pfr1[15:12] and
diff --git a/target-arm/cpu.h b/target-arm/cpu.h
index 76d824d..5d9e6e7 100644
--- a/target-arm/cpu.h
+++ b/target-arm/cpu.h
@@ -1129,6 +1129,7 @@ enum arm_features {
     ARM_FEATURE_V8_SHA256, /* implements SHA256 part of v8 Crypto Extensions */
     ARM_FEATURE_V8_PMULL, /* implements PMULL part of v8 Crypto Extensions */
     ARM_FEATURE_THUMB_DSP, /* DSP insns supported in the Thumb encodings */
+    ARM_FEATURE_PMU, /* has PMU support */
 };
 
 static inline int arm_feature(CPUARMState *env, int feature)
diff --git a/target-arm/cpu64.c b/target-arm/cpu64.c
index 1635deb..549cb1e 100644
--- a/target-arm/cpu64.c
+++ b/target-arm/cpu64.c
@@ -111,6 +111,7 @@ static void aarch64_a57_initfn(Object *obj)
     set_feature(&cpu->env, ARM_FEATURE_V8_PMULL);
     set_feature(&cpu->env, ARM_FEATURE_CRC);
     set_feature(&cpu->env, ARM_FEATURE_EL3);
+    set_feature(&cpu->env, ARM_FEATURE_PMU);
     cpu->kvm_target = QEMU_KVM_ARM_TARGET_CORTEX_A57;
     cpu->midr = 0x411fd070;
     cpu->revidr = 0x00000000;
@@ -166,6 +167,7 @@ static void aarch64_a53_initfn(Object *obj)
     set_feature(&cpu->env, ARM_FEATURE_V8_PMULL);
     set_feature(&cpu->env, ARM_FEATURE_CRC);
     set_feature(&cpu->env, ARM_FEATURE_EL3);
+    set_feature(&cpu->env, ARM_FEATURE_PMU);
     cpu->kvm_target = QEMU_KVM_ARM_TARGET_CORTEX_A53;
     cpu->midr = 0x410fd034;
     cpu->revidr = 0x00000000;
diff --git a/target-arm/kvm64.c b/target-arm/kvm64.c
index 5faa76c..933b27a 100644
--- a/target-arm/kvm64.c
+++ b/target-arm/kvm64.c
@@ -428,6 +428,11 @@ static inline void set_feature(uint64_t *features, int feature)
     *features |= 1ULL << feature;
 }
 
+static inline void unset_feature(uint64_t *features, int feature)
+{
+    *features &= ~(1ULL << feature);
+}
+
 bool kvm_arm_get_host_cpu_features(ARMHostCPUClass *ahcc)
 {
     /* Identify the feature bits corresponding to the host CPU, and
@@ -469,6 +474,7 @@ bool kvm_arm_get_host_cpu_features(ARMHostCPUClass *ahcc)
     set_feature(&features, ARM_FEATURE_VFP4);
     set_feature(&features, ARM_FEATURE_NEON);
     set_feature(&features, ARM_FEATURE_AARCH64);
+    set_feature(&features, ARM_FEATURE_PMU);
 
     ahcc->features = features;
 
@@ -482,6 +488,7 @@ int kvm_arch_init_vcpu(CPUState *cs)
     int ret;
     uint64_t mpidr;
     ARMCPU *cpu = ARM_CPU(cs);
+    CPUARMState *env = &cpu->env;
 
     if (cpu->kvm_target == QEMU_KVM_ARM_TARGET_NONE ||
         !object_dynamic_cast(OBJECT(cpu), TYPE_AARCH64_CPU)) {
@@ -501,10 +508,12 @@ int kvm_arch_init_vcpu(CPUState *cs)
     if (!arm_feature(&cpu->env, ARM_FEATURE_AARCH64)) {
         cpu->kvm_init_features[0] |= 1 << KVM_ARM_VCPU_EL1_32BIT;
     }
-    if (kvm_irqchip_in_kernel() &&
-        kvm_check_extension(cs->kvm_state, KVM_CAP_ARM_PMU_V3)) {
-        cpu->has_pmu = true;
-        cpu->kvm_init_features[0] |= 1 << KVM_ARM_VCPU_PMU_V3;
+    /* enable PMU based on KVM mode, hw capability, and user setting */
+    cpu->has_pmu &= kvm_irqchip_in_kernel() &&
+        kvm_check_extension(cs->kvm_state, KVM_CAP_ARM_PMU_V3);
+    cpu->kvm_init_features[0] |= cpu->has_pmu << KVM_ARM_VCPU_PMU_V3;
+    if (!cpu->has_pmu) {
+        unset_feature(&env->features, ARM_FEATURE_PMU);
     }
 
     /* Do KVM_ARM_VCPU_INIT ioctl */
