diff --git a/tests/vm/basevm.py b/tests/vm/basevm.py
index 465c7b80d011..17281eaf99e4 100755
--- a/tests/vm/basevm.py
+++ b/tests/vm/basevm.py
@@ -2,10 +2,11 @@
 #
 # VM testing base class
 #
-# Copyright 2017 Red Hat Inc.
+# Copyright 2017-2019 Red Hat Inc.
 #
 # Authors:
 #  Fam Zheng <famz@redhat.com>
+#  Gerd Hoffmann <kraxel@redhat.com>
 #
 # This code is licensed under the GPL version 2 or later.  See
 # the COPYING file in the top-level directory.
@@ -13,7 +14,9 @@
 
 from __future__ import print_function
 import os
+import re
 import sys
+import socket
 import logging
 import time
 import datetime
@@ -79,8 +82,7 @@ class BaseVM(object):
             "-cpu", "max",
             "-netdev", "user,id=vnet,hostfwd=:127.0.0.1:0-:22",
             "-device", "virtio-net-pci,netdev=vnet",
-            "-vnc", "127.0.0.1:0,to=20",
-            "-serial", "file:%s" % os.path.join(self._tmpdir, "serial.out")]
+            "-vnc", "127.0.0.1:0,to=20"]
         if vcpus and vcpus > 1:
             self._args += ["-smp", "%d" % vcpus]
         if kvm_available(self.arch):
@@ -161,6 +163,8 @@ class BaseVM(object):
         logging.debug("QEMU args: %s", " ".join(args))
         qemu_bin = os.environ.get("QEMU", "qemu-system-" + self.arch)
         guest = QEMUMachine(binary=qemu_bin, args=args)
+        guest.set_machine('pc')
+        guest.set_console()
         try:
             guest.launch()
         except:
@@ -183,6 +187,81 @@ class BaseVM(object):
             raise Exception("Cannot find ssh port from 'info usernet':\n%s" % \
                             usernet_info)
 
+    def console_init(self, timeout = 120):
+        vm = self._guest
+        vm.console_socket.settimeout(timeout)
+
+    def console_log(self, text):
+        for line in re.split("[\r\n]", text):
+            # filter out terminal escape sequences
+            line = re.sub("\x1b\[[0-9;?]*[a-zA-Z]", "", line)
+            line = re.sub("\x1b\([0-9;?]*[a-zA-Z]", "", line)
+            # replace unprintable chars
+            line = re.sub("\x1b", "<esc>", line)
+            line = re.sub("[\x00-\x1f]", ".", line)
+            if line == "":
+                continue
+            # log console line
+            sys.stderr.write("con recv: %s\n" % line)
+
+    def console_wait(self, expect):
+        vm = self._guest
+        output = ""
+        while True:
+            try:
+                chars = vm.console_socket.recv(1024)
+            except socket.timeout:
+                sys.stderr.write("console: *** read timeout ***\n")
+                sys.stderr.write("console: waiting for: '%s'\n" % expect)
+                sys.stderr.write("console: line buffer:\n")
+                sys.stderr.write("\n")
+                self.console_log(output.rstrip())
+                sys.stderr.write("\n")
+                raise
+            output += chars.decode("latin1")
+            if expect in output:
+                break
+            if "\r" in output or "\n" in output:
+                lines = re.split("[\r\n]", output)
+                output = lines.pop()
+                if self.debug:
+                    self.console_log("\n".join(lines))
+        if self.debug:
+            self.console_log(output)
+
+    def console_send(self, command):
+        vm = self._guest
+        if self.debug:
+            logline = re.sub("\n", "<enter>", command)
+            logline = re.sub("[\x00-\x1f]", ".", logline)
+            sys.stderr.write("con send: %s\n" % logline)
+        for char in list(command):
+            vm.console_socket.send(char.encode("utf-8"))
+            time.sleep(0.01)
+
+    def console_wait_send(self, wait, command):
+        self.console_wait(wait)
+        self.console_send(command)
+
+    def console_ssh_init(self, prompt, user, pw):
+        sshkey_cmd = "echo '%s' > .ssh/authorized_keys\n" % SSH_PUB_KEY.rstrip()
+        self.console_wait_send("login:",    "%s\n" % user)
+        self.console_wait_send("Password:", "%s\n" % pw)
+        self.console_wait_send(prompt,      "mkdir .ssh\n")
+        self.console_wait_send(prompt,      sshkey_cmd)
+        self.console_wait_send(prompt,      "chmod 755 .ssh\n")
+        self.console_wait_send(prompt,      "chmod 644 .ssh/authorized_keys\n")
+
+    def console_sshd_config(self, prompt):
+        self.console_wait(prompt)
+        self.console_send("echo 'PermitRootLogin yes' >> /etc/ssh/sshd_config\n")
+        for var in self.envvars:
+            self.console_wait(prompt)
+            self.console_send("echo 'AcceptEnv %s' >> /etc/ssh/sshd_config\n" % var)
+
+    def print_step(self, text):
+        sys.stderr.write("### %s ...\n" % text)
+
     def wait_ssh(self, seconds=300):
         starttime = datetime.datetime.now()
         endtime = starttime + datetime.timedelta(seconds=seconds)
