diff --git a/tests/Makefile.include b/tests/Makefile.include
index 22bb97e..c38f94e 100644
--- a/tests/Makefile.include
+++ b/tests/Makefile.include
@@ -127,7 +127,7 @@ check-unit-y += tests/test-bufferiszero$(EXESUF)
 gcov-files-check-bufferiszero-y = util/bufferiszero.c
 check-unit-y += tests/test-uuid$(EXESUF)
 check-unit-y += tests/ptimer-test$(EXESUF)
-#check-unit-y += tests/test-listen$(EXESUF)
+check-unit-y += tests/test-listen$(EXESUF)
 gcov-files-ptimer-test-y = hw/core/ptimer.c
 check-unit-y += tests/test-qapi-util$(EXESUF)
 gcov-files-test-qapi-util-y = qapi/qapi-util.c
diff --git a/util/qemu-sockets.c b/util/qemu-sockets.c
index 852773d..7b118b4 100644
--- a/util/qemu-sockets.c
+++ b/util/qemu-sockets.c
@@ -149,6 +149,94 @@ int inet_ai_family_from_address(InetSocketAddress *addr,
     return PF_UNSPEC;
 }
 
+static int create_fast_reuse_socket(struct addrinfo *e, Error **errp)
+{
+    int slisten = qemu_socket(e->ai_family, e->ai_socktype, e->ai_protocol);
+    if (slisten < 0) {
+        if (!e->ai_next) {
+            error_setg_errno(errp, errno, "Failed to create socket");
+        }
+        return -1;
+    }
+
+    socket_set_fast_reuse(slisten);
+    return slisten;
+}
+
+static int try_bind(int socket, InetSocketAddress *saddr, struct addrinfo *e)
+{
+#ifndef IPV6_V6ONLY
+    return bind(socket, e->ai_addr, e->ai_addrlen);
+#else
+    /*
+     * Deals with first & last cases in matrix in comment
+     * for inet_ai_family_from_address().
+     */
+    int v6only =
+        ((!saddr->has_ipv4 && !saddr->has_ipv6) ||
+         (saddr->has_ipv4 && saddr->ipv4 &&
+          saddr->has_ipv6 && saddr->ipv6)) ? 0 : 1;
+    int stat;
+
+ rebind:
+    if (e->ai_family == PF_INET6) {
+        qemu_setsockopt(socket, IPPROTO_IPV6, IPV6_V6ONLY, &v6only,
+                        sizeof(v6only));
+    }
+
+    stat = bind(socket, e->ai_addr, e->ai_addrlen);
+    if (!stat) {
+        return 0;
+    }
+
+    /* If we got EADDRINUSE from an IPv6 bind & v6only is unset,
+     * it could be that the IPv4 port is already claimed, so retry
+     * with v6only set
+     */
+    if (e->ai_family == PF_INET6 && errno == EADDRINUSE && !v6only) {
+        v6only = 1;
+        goto rebind;
+    }
+    return stat;
+#endif
+}
+
+static int try_bind_listen(int *socket, InetSocketAddress *saddr,
+                           struct addrinfo *e, int port, Error **errp)
+{
+    int s = *socket;
+    int ret;
+
+    inet_setport(e, port);
+    ret = try_bind(s, saddr, e);
+    if (ret) {
+        if (errno != EADDRINUSE) {
+            error_setg_errno(errp, errno, "Failed to bind socket");
+        }
+        return errno;
+    }
+    if (listen(s, 1) == 0) {
+            return 0;
+    }
+    if (errno == EADDRINUSE) {
+        /* We got to bind the socket to a port but someone else managed
+         * to bind to the same port and beat us to listen on it!
+         * Recreate the socket and return EADDRINUSE to preserve the
+         * expected state by the caller:
+         */
+        closesocket(s);
+        s = create_fast_reuse_socket(e, errp);
+        if (s < 0) {
+            return errno;
+        }
+        *socket = s;
+        errno = EADDRINUSE;
+        return errno;
+    }
+    error_setg_errno(errp, errno, "Failed to listen on socket");
+    return errno;
+}
+
 static int inet_listen_saddr(InetSocketAddress *saddr,
                              int port_offset,
                              bool update_addr,
@@ -158,7 +246,9 @@ static int inet_listen_saddr(InetSocketAddress *saddr,
     char port[33];
     char uaddr[INET6_ADDRSTRLEN+1];
     char uport[33];
-    int slisten, rc, port_min, port_max, p;
+    int rc, port_min, port_max, p;
+    int slisten = 0;
+    int saved_errno = 0;
     Error *err = NULL;
 
     memset(&ai,0, sizeof(ai));
@@ -210,75 +300,40 @@ static int inet_listen_saddr(InetSocketAddress *saddr,
         return -1;
     }
 
-    /* create socket + bind */
+    /* create socket + bind/listen */
     for (e = res; e != NULL; e = e->ai_next) {
         getnameinfo((struct sockaddr*)e->ai_addr,e->ai_addrlen,
 		        uaddr,INET6_ADDRSTRLEN,uport,32,
 		        NI_NUMERICHOST | NI_NUMERICSERV);
-        slisten = qemu_socket(e->ai_family, e->ai_socktype, e->ai_protocol);
+
+        slisten = create_fast_reuse_socket(e, &err);
         if (slisten < 0) {
-            if (!e->ai_next) {
-                error_setg_errno(errp, errno, "Failed to create socket");
-            }
             continue;
         }
 
-        socket_set_fast_reuse(slisten);
-
         port_min = inet_getport(e);
         port_max = saddr->has_to ? saddr->to + port_offset : port_min;
         for (p = port_min; p <= port_max; p++) {
-#ifdef IPV6_V6ONLY
-            /*
-             * Deals with first & last cases in matrix in comment
-             * for inet_ai_family_from_address().
-             */
-            int v6only =
-                ((!saddr->has_ipv4 && !saddr->has_ipv6) ||
-                 (saddr->has_ipv4 && saddr->ipv4 &&
-                  saddr->has_ipv6 && saddr->ipv6)) ? 0 : 1;
-#endif
-            inet_setport(e, p);
-#ifdef IPV6_V6ONLY
-        rebind:
-            if (e->ai_family == PF_INET6) {
-                qemu_setsockopt(slisten, IPPROTO_IPV6, IPV6_V6ONLY, &v6only,
-                                sizeof(v6only));
-            }
-#endif
-            if (bind(slisten, e->ai_addr, e->ai_addrlen) == 0) {
-                goto listen;
-            }
-
-#ifdef IPV6_V6ONLY
-            /* If we got EADDRINUSE from an IPv6 bind & V6ONLY is unset,
-             * it could be that the IPv4 port is already claimed, so retry
-             * with V6ONLY set
-             */
-            if (e->ai_family == PF_INET6 && errno == EADDRINUSE && !v6only) {
-                v6only = 1;
-                goto rebind;
-            }
-#endif
-
-            if (p == port_max) {
-                if (!e->ai_next) {
-                    error_setg_errno(errp, errno, "Failed to bind socket");
-                }
+            int eno = try_bind_listen(&slisten, saddr, e, p, &err);
+            if (!eno) {
+                goto listen_ok;
+            } else if (eno != EADDRINUSE) {
+                goto listen_failed;
             }
         }
+    }
+    error_setg_errno(errp, errno, "Failed to find available port");
+
+listen_failed:
+    saved_errno = errno;
+    if (slisten >= 0) {
         closesocket(slisten);
     }
     freeaddrinfo(res);
+    errno = saved_errno;
     return -1;
 
-listen:
-    if (listen(slisten,1) != 0) {
-        error_setg_errno(errp, errno, "Failed to listen on socket");
-        closesocket(slisten);
-        freeaddrinfo(res);
-        return -1;
-    }
+listen_ok:
     if (update_addr) {
         g_free(saddr->host);
         saddr->host = g_strdup(uaddr);
