diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 14ad17103c..cb364f4167 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -138,8 +138,6 @@ $(call set-vpath, $(SRC_PATH))
 
 LIBS+=-lz $(LIBS_TOOLS)
 
-HELPERS-y =
-
 # Sphinx does not allow building manuals into the same directory as
 # the source files, so if we're doing an in-tree QEMU build we must
 # build the manuals into a subdirectory (and then install them from
@@ -188,7 +186,7 @@ dummy := $(call unnest-vars,, \
 
 include $(SRC_PATH)/tests/Makefile.include
 
-all: $(DOCS) $(if $(BUILD_DOCS),sphinxdocs) $(TOOLS) $(HELPERS-y) recurse-all modules
+all: $(DOCS) $(if $(BUILD_DOCS),sphinxdocs) recurse-all modules
 
 config-host.h: config-host.h-timestamp
 config-host.h-timestamp: config-host.mak
@@ -300,7 +298,7 @@ clean: recurse-clean ninja-clean clean-ctlist
 		! -path ./roms/edk2/ArmPkg/Library/GccLto/liblto-arm.a \
 		! -path ./roms/edk2/BaseTools/Source/Python/UPT/Dll/sqlite3.dll \
 		-exec rm {} +
-	rm -f $(filter-out %.tlb,$(TOOLS)) $(HELPERS-y) TAGS cscope.* *.pod *~ */*~
+	rm -f TAGS cscope.* *.pod *~ */*~
 	rm -f fsdev/*.pod scsi/*.pod
 	rm -f $(foreach f,$(generated-files-y),$(f) $(f)-timestamp)
 
@@ -452,12 +450,6 @@ export DESTDIR
 install: all $(if $(BUILD_DOCS),install-doc) \
 	install-datadir install-localstatedir install-includedir \
 	recurse-install
-ifneq ($(TOOLS),)
-	$(call install-prog,$(TOOLS),$(DESTDIR)$(bindir))
-endif
-ifneq ($(HELPERS-y),)
-	$(call install-prog,$(HELPERS-y),$(DESTDIR)$(libexecdir))
-endif
 ifdef CONFIG_TRACE_SYSTEMTAP
 	$(INSTALL_PROG) "scripts/qemu-trace-stap" $(DESTDIR)$(bindir)
 endif
@@ -717,16 +709,6 @@ endif
 				$(call print-help-run,$(t)/fuzz,Build fuzzer for $(t)); \
 		))) \
 		echo '')
-	@$(if $(HELPERS-y), \
-		echo 'Helper targets:'; \
-		$(foreach t, $(HELPERS-y), \
-		$(call print-help-run,$(t),Build $(shell basename $(t)));) \
-		echo '')
-	@$(if $(TOOLS), \
-		echo 'Tools targets:'; \
-		$(foreach t, $(TOOLS), \
-		$(call print-help-run,$(t),Build $(shell basename $(t)) tool);) \
-		echo '')
 	@echo  'Cleaning targets:'
 	$(call print-help,clean,Remove most generated files but keep the config)
 	$(call print-help,distclean,Remove all generated files)
diff --git a/configure b/configure
index 97cdd48dc4..a8f7c912da 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -6716,12 +6716,6 @@ if [ "$eventfd" = "yes" ]; then
   ivshmem=yes
 fi
 
-tools=""
-if test "$want_tools" = "yes" ; then
-  if [ "$linux" = "yes" -o "$bsd" = "yes" -o "$solaris" = "yes" ] ; then
-    tools="qemu-storage-daemon\$(EXESUF) $tools"
-  fi
-fi
 if test "$softmmu" = yes ; then
   if test "$linux" = yes; then
     if test "$virtfs" != no && test "$cap_ng" = yes && test "$attr" = yes ; then
@@ -7817,7 +7811,6 @@ else
   QEMU_INCLUDES="-iquote ${source_path}/tcg/${ARCH} $QEMU_INCLUDES"
 fi
 
-echo "TOOLS=$tools" >> $config_host_mak
 echo "ROMS=$roms" >> $config_host_mak
 echo "MAKE=$make" >> $config_host_mak
 echo "INSTALL=$install" >> $config_host_mak