diff --git a/meta/conf/bitbake.conf b/meta/conf/bitbake.conf
index 223c03f..c5ebc94 100644
--- a/meta/conf/bitbake.conf
+++ b/meta/conf/bitbake.conf
@@ -732,7 +732,7 @@ MACHINE_ESSENTIAL_EXTRA_RDEPENDS ?= ""
 MACHINE_ESSENTIAL_EXTRA_RRECOMMENDS ?= ""
 IMAGE_FEATURES += "${EXTRA_IMAGE_FEATURES}"
 
-DISTRO_FEATURES_BACKFILL = "pulseaudio ${DISTRO_FEATURES_INITMAN}"
+DISTRO_FEATURES_BACKFILL = "pulseaudio ${DISTRO_FEATURES_INITMAN} runqemu"
 MACHINE_FEATURES_BACKFILL = "rtc"
 
 COMBINED_FEATURES = "\
diff --git a/meta/conf/machine/include/qemu.inc b/meta/conf/machine/include/qemu.inc
index f68bf32..1470778 100644
--- a/meta/conf/machine/include/qemu.inc
+++ b/meta/conf/machine/include/qemu.inc
@@ -24,4 +24,5 @@ RDEPENDS_kernel-base = ""
 # Use a common kernel recipe for all QEMU machines
 PREFERRED_PROVIDER_virtual/kernel ?= "linux-yocto"
 
-EXTRA_IMAGEDEPENDS += "qemu-native qemu-helper-native"
+RUNQEMU_IMAGEDEPENDS = "qemu-native qemu-helper-native"
+EXTRA_IMAGEDEPENDS += "${@base_contains("DISTRO_FEATURES", "runqemu", "${RUNQEMU_IMAGEDEPENDS}", "", d)}"