diff --git a/Managers/UTMJSONStream.m b/Managers/UTMJSONStream.m
index 31753e562..27ea1904a 100644
--- a/Managers/UTMJSONStream.m
+++ b/Managers/UTMJSONStream.m
@@ -204,6 +204,11 @@ - (void)stream:(NSStream *)aStream handleEvent:(NSStreamEvent)eventCode {
             [self disconnect];
             break;
         }
+        case NSStreamEventOpenCompleted: {
+            NSLog(@"Connected to stream");
+            [self.delegate jsonStream:self connected:(aStream == _inputStream)];
+            break;
+        }
         default: {
             break;
         }
diff --git a/Managers/UTMJSONStreamDelegate.h b/Managers/UTMJSONStreamDelegate.h
index d87b6945a..ac411b85d 100644
--- a/Managers/UTMJSONStreamDelegate.h
+++ b/Managers/UTMJSONStreamDelegate.h
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ NS_ASSUME_NONNULL_BEGIN
 
 @protocol UTMJSONStreamDelegate <NSObject>
 
+- (void)jsonStream:(UTMJSONStream *)stream connected:(BOOL)readStream;
 - (void)jsonStream:(UTMJSONStream *)stream receivedDictionary:(NSDictionary *)dict;
 - (void)jsonStream:(UTMJSONStream *)stream seenError:(NSError *)error;
 
diff --git a/Managers/UTMQemuManager.h b/Managers/UTMQemuManager.h
index a50978e8d..910d550ae 100644
--- a/Managers/UTMQemuManager.h
+++ b/Managers/UTMQemuManager.h
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ NS_ASSUME_NONNULL_BEGIN
 
 @property (nonatomic, readonly) UTMJSONStream *jsonStream;
 @property (nonatomic, weak) id<UTMQemuManagerDelegate> delegate;
+@property (nonatomic, assign) int retries;
 
 - (void)connect;
 - (void)disconnect;
diff --git a/Managers/UTMQemuManager.m b/Managers/UTMQemuManager.m
index 27222ba2a..576cea1a6 100644
--- a/Managers/UTMQemuManager.m
+++ b/Managers/UTMQemuManager.m
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@
 
 extern NSString *const kUTMErrorDomain;
 const int64_t kRPCTimeout = (int64_t)10*1000000000;
+const int64_t kRetryWait = (int64_t)1*1000000000;
 
 static void utm_shutdown_handler(bool guest, ShutdownCause reason, void *ctx) {
     UTMQemuManager *self = (__bridge UTMQemuManager *)ctx;
@@ -163,10 +164,24 @@ - (void)disconnect {
     [_jsonStream disconnect];
 }
 
+- (void)jsonStream:(UTMJSONStream *)stream connected:(BOOL)readStream {
+    NSLog(@"QMP connection successful! (readStream:%d)", readStream);
+    self.retries = 0; // connection was successful
+}
+
 - (void)jsonStream:(UTMJSONStream *)stream seenError:(NSError *)error {
+    NSLog(@"QMP stream error seen: %@", error);
     if (_rpc_finish) {
         _rpc_finish(nil, error);
     }
+    [self disconnect];
+    if (self.retries > 0) {
+        self.retries--;
+        NSLog(@"QMP connection failed, retries left: %d", self.retries);
+        dispatch_after(dispatch_time(DISPATCH_TIME_NOW, kRetryWait), dispatch_get_main_queue(), ^{
+            [self->_jsonStream connect];
+        });
+    }
 }
 
 - (void)jsonStream:(UTMJSONStream *)stream receivedDictionary:(NSDictionary *)dict {
diff --git a/Managers/UTMVirtualMachine.m b/Managers/UTMVirtualMachine.m
index 855e44ac7..6085c8c8f 100644
--- a/Managers/UTMVirtualMachine.m
+++ b/Managers/UTMVirtualMachine.m
@@ -253,6 +253,7 @@ - (BOOL)startVM {
     if (tries == 0) {
         [self errorTriggered:NSLocalizedString(@"Failed to connect to display server.", @"UTMVirtualMachine")];
     }
+    self->_qemu.retries = kMaxConnectionTries;
     [self->_qemu connect];
     _is_busy = NO;
     return YES;