diff --git a/qemu-nbd.c b/qemu-nbd.c
index 186ce9474c..5a8ae1f747 100644
--- a/qemu-nbd.c
+++ b/qemu-nbd.c
@@ -932,14 +932,17 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
             error_report("Failed to fork: %s", strerror(errno));
             exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
         } else if (pid == 0) {
+            int saved_errno;
+
             close(stderr_fd[0]);
 
             ret = qemu_daemon(1, 0);
+            saved_errno = errno;    /* dup2 will overwrite error below */
 
             /* Temporarily redirect stderr to the parent's pipe...  */
             dup2(stderr_fd[1], STDERR_FILENO);
             if (ret < 0) {
-                error_report("Failed to daemonize: %s", strerror(errno));
+                error_report("Failed to daemonize: %s", strerror(saved_errno));
                 exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
             }