diff --git a/Configuration/UTMQemuConfiguration+Arguments.swift b/Configuration/UTMQemuConfiguration+Arguments.swift
index c2ebd0afb..5500ecc67 100644
--- a/Configuration/UTMQemuConfiguration+Arguments.swift
+++ b/Configuration/UTMQemuConfiguration+Arguments.swift
@@ -510,7 +510,7 @@ import Virtualization // for getting network interfaces
     }
     
     private var resourceURL: URL {
-        Bundle.main.url(forResource: "qemu", withExtension: nil)!
+        FileManager.default.urls(for: .cachesDirectory, in: .userDomainMask).first!.appendingPathComponent("qemu", isDirectory: true)
     }
     
     private var soundBackend: UTMQEMUSoundBackend {
diff --git a/Services/UTMQemuVirtualMachine.swift b/Services/UTMQemuVirtualMachine.swift
index 2994fea08..28bee3c10 100644
--- a/Services/UTMQemuVirtualMachine.swift
+++ b/Services/UTMQemuVirtualMachine.swift
@@ -155,6 +155,8 @@ final class UTMQemuVirtualMachine: UTMSpiceVirtualMachine {
     
     private var changeCursorRequestInProgress: Bool = false
 
+    private static var resourceCacheOperationQueue = DispatchQueue(label: "Resource Cache Operation")
+
     #if WITH_SERVER
     @Setting("ServerPort") private var serverPort: Int = 0
     private var spicePort: SwiftPortmap.Port?
@@ -275,6 +277,10 @@ extension UTMQemuVirtualMachine {
         guard await isSupported else {
             throw UTMQemuVirtualMachineError.emulationNotSupported
         }
+
+        // create QEMU resource cache if needed
+        try await ensureQemuResourceCacheUpToDate()
+
         let hasDebugLog = await config.qemu.hasDebugLog
         // start logging
         if hasDebugLog, let debugLogURL = await config.qemu.debugLogURL {
@@ -885,6 +891,87 @@ extension UTMQemuVirtualMachine {
     }
 }
 
+// MARK: - Caching QEMU resources
+extension UTMQemuVirtualMachine {
+    private func _ensureQemuResourceCacheUpToDate() throws {
+        let fm = FileManager.default
+        let qemuResourceUrl = Bundle.main.url(forResource: "qemu", withExtension: nil)!
+        let cacheUrl = try fm.url(for: .cachesDirectory, in: .userDomainMask, appropriateFor: nil, create: true)
+        let qemuCacheUrl = cacheUrl.appendingPathComponent("qemu", isDirectory: true)
+
+        guard fm.fileExists(atPath: qemuCacheUrl.path) else {
+            try fm.copyItem(at: qemuResourceUrl, to: qemuCacheUrl)
+            return
+        }
+
+        logger.info("Updating QEMU resource cache...")
+        // first visit all the subdirectories and create them if needed
+        let subdirectoryEnumerator = fm.enumerator(at: qemuResourceUrl, includingPropertiesForKeys: nil, options: [.skipsHiddenFiles, .producesRelativePathURLs, .includesDirectoriesPostOrder])!
+        for case let directoryURL as URL in subdirectoryEnumerator {
+            guard subdirectoryEnumerator.isEnumeratingDirectoryPostOrder else {
+                continue
+            }
+            let relativePath = directoryURL.relativePath
+            let destUrl = qemuCacheUrl.appendingPathComponent(relativePath)
+            var isDirectory: ObjCBool = false
+            if fm.fileExists(atPath: destUrl.path, isDirectory: &isDirectory) {
+                // old file is now a directory
+                if !isDirectory.boolValue {
+                    logger.info("Removing file \(destUrl.path)")
+                    try fm.removeItem(at: destUrl)
+                } else {
+                    continue
+                }
+            }
+            logger.info("Creating directory \(destUrl.path)")
+            try fm.createDirectory(at: destUrl, withIntermediateDirectories: true)
+        }
+        // next check all the files
+        let fileEnumerator = fm.enumerator(at: qemuResourceUrl, includingPropertiesForKeys: [.contentModificationDateKey, .fileSizeKey, .isDirectoryKey], options: [.skipsHiddenFiles, .producesRelativePathURLs])!
+        for case let sourceUrl as URL in fileEnumerator {
+            let relativePath = sourceUrl.relativePath
+            let sourceResourceValues = try sourceUrl.resourceValues(forKeys: [.contentModificationDateKey, .fileSizeKey, .isDirectoryKey])
+            guard !sourceResourceValues.isDirectory! else {
+                continue
+            }
+            let destUrl = qemuCacheUrl.appendingPathComponent(relativePath)
+            if fm.fileExists(atPath: destUrl.path) {
+                // first do a quick comparsion with resource keys
+                let destResourceValues = try destUrl.resourceValues(forKeys: [.contentModificationDateKey, .fileSizeKey, .isDirectoryKey])
+                // old directory is now a file
+                if destResourceValues.isDirectory! {
+                    logger.info("Removing directory \(destUrl.path)")
+                    try fm.removeItem(at: destUrl)
+                } else if destResourceValues.contentModificationDate == sourceResourceValues.contentModificationDate && destResourceValues.fileSize == sourceResourceValues.fileSize {
+                    // assume the file is the same
+                    continue
+                } else {
+                    logger.info("Removing file \(destUrl.path)")
+                    try fm.removeItem(at: destUrl)
+                }
+            }
+            // if we are here, the file has changed
+            logger.info("Copying file \(sourceUrl.path) to \(destUrl.path)")
+            try fm.copyItem(at: sourceUrl, to: destUrl)
+        }
+    }
+
+    func ensureQemuResourceCacheUpToDate() async throws {
+        try await withCheckedThrowingContinuation { continuation in
+            Self.resourceCacheOperationQueue.async { [weak self] in
+                do {
+                    try self?._ensureQemuResourceCacheUpToDate()
+                    continuation.resume()
+                } catch {
+                    continuation.resume(throwing: error)
+                }
+            }
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+// MARK: - Errors
+
 enum UTMQemuVirtualMachineError: Error {
     case failedToAccessShortcut
     case emulationNotSupported