diff --git a/src/runtime/pkg/govmm/qemu/qemu.go b/src/runtime/pkg/govmm/qemu/qemu.go
index f121696c96..151e3dab4c 100644
--- a/src/runtime/pkg/govmm/qemu/qemu.go
+++ b/src/runtime/pkg/govmm/qemu/qemu.go
@@ -2782,6 +2782,8 @@ type Config struct {
 	PidFile string
 
 	qemuParams []string
+
+	Debug bool
 }
 
 // appendFDs appends a list of arbitrary file descriptors to the qemu configuration and
@@ -2818,8 +2820,15 @@ func (config *Config) appendSeccompSandbox() {
 
 func (config *Config) appendName() {
 	if config.Name != "" {
+		var nameParams []string
+		nameParams = append(nameParams, config.Name)
+
+		if config.Debug {
+			nameParams = append(nameParams, "debug-threads=on")
+		}
+
 		config.qemuParams = append(config.qemuParams, "-name")
-		config.qemuParams = append(config.qemuParams, config.Name)
+		config.qemuParams = append(config.qemuParams, strings.Join(nameParams, ","))
 	}
 }
 
diff --git a/src/runtime/virtcontainers/qemu.go b/src/runtime/virtcontainers/qemu.go
index 96b004533e..d9f1ef2be5 100644
--- a/src/runtime/virtcontainers/qemu.go
+++ b/src/runtime/virtcontainers/qemu.go
@@ -700,6 +700,7 @@ func (q *qemu) CreateVM(ctx context.Context, id string, network Network, hypervi
 		Bios:           firmwarePath,
 		PFlash:         pflash,
 		PidFile:        filepath.Join(q.config.VMStorePath, q.id, "pid"),
+		Debug:          hypervisorConfig.Debug,
 	}
 
 	qemuConfig.Devices, qemuConfig.Bios, err = q.arch.appendProtectionDevice(qemuConfig.Devices, firmwarePath, firmwareVolumePath)