diff --git a/src/cmd-buildextend-live b/src/cmd-buildextend-live
index 755a4a48d7bb2ac64f6261b5f63b6d92fe4ce3e5..d1ef59683979a7de81ae308b0e708ca1a37ac6a0 100755
--- a/src/cmd-buildextend-live
+++ b/src/cmd-buildextend-live
@@ -584,6 +584,8 @@ def generate_iso():
             # Note: virt-make-fs lets us do this as non-root
             efibootfile = os.path.join(tmpisoimages, 'efiboot.img')
             os.environ["LIBGUESTFS_BACKEND"] = "direct"
+            if "COSA_NO_KVM" in os.environ:
+                os.environ["LIBGUESTFS_BACKEND_SETTINGS"] = "force_tcg"
             # On RHEL 8, when booting from a disk device (rather than a CD),
             # https://github.com/systemd/systemd/issues/14408 causes the
             # hybrid ESP to race with the ISO9660 filesystem for the
diff --git a/src/libguestfish.sh b/src/libguestfish.sh
index a8c42dc5bbdce3a7e165aa3db8aed1a4403bfc95..8fcdf37b62faa98bd1ef8d23f4d2e4ef1259b4d4 100755
--- a/src/libguestfish.sh
+++ b/src/libguestfish.sh
@@ -8,6 +8,9 @@ set -euo pipefail
 # We don't want to use libvirt for this, it inhibits debugging
 # shellcheck disable=SC2031
 export LIBGUESTFS_BACKEND=direct
+if [ "$COSA_NO_KVM" ];then
+    export LIBGUESTFS_BACKEND_SETTINGS=force_tcg
+fi
 
 arch=$(uname -m)