diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index 34d4ff96aa..32f614b3dd 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -1103,7 +1103,7 @@ common_all = static_library('common',
 
 feature_to_c = find_program('scripts/feature_to_c.sh')
 
-emulators = []
+emulators = {}
 foreach target : target_dirs
   config_target = config_target_mak[target]
   target_name = config_target['TARGET_NAME']
@@ -1222,7 +1222,8 @@ foreach target : target_dirs
     }]
   endif
   foreach exe: execs
-    emulators += executable(exe['name'], exe['sources'],
+    emulators += {exe['name']:
+         executable(exe['name'], exe['sources'],
                install: true,
                c_args: c_args,
                dependencies: arch_deps + deps + exe['dependencies'],
@@ -1231,6 +1232,7 @@ foreach target : target_dirs
                link_depends: [block_syms, qemu_syms] + exe.get('link_depends', []),
                link_args: link_args,
                gui_app: exe['gui'])
+    }
 
     if 'CONFIG_TRACE_SYSTEMTAP' in config_host
       foreach stp: [
@@ -1276,7 +1278,6 @@ if xkbcommon.found()
                            dependencies: [qemuutil, xkbcommon], install: have_tools)
 endif
 
-qemu_block_tools = []
 if have_tools
   qemu_img = executable('qemu-img', [files('qemu-img.c'), hxdep],
              dependencies: [authz, block, crypto, io, qom, qemuutil], install: true)
diff --git a/tests/qtest/meson.build b/tests/qtest/meson.build
index 874b5be62b..4f7757ee93 100644
--- a/tests/qtest/meson.build
+++ b/tests/qtest/meson.build
@@ -228,10 +228,15 @@ foreach dir : target_dirs
   endif
 
   target_base = dir.split('-')[0]
+  qtest_emulator = emulators['qemu-system-' + target_base]
   qtests = get_variable('qtests_' + target_base, []) + qtests_generic
 
+  test_deps = []
   qtest_env = environment()
-  qtest_env.set('QTEST_QEMU_IMG', './qemu-img')
+  if have_tools
+    qtest_env.set('QTEST_QEMU_IMG', './qemu-img')
+    test_deps += [qemu_img]
+  endif
   qtest_env.set('G_TEST_DBUS_DAEMON', meson.source_root() / 'tests/dbus-vmstate-daemon.sh')
   qtest_env.set('QTEST_QEMU_BINARY', './qemu-system-' + target_base)
   
@@ -248,6 +253,7 @@ foreach dir : target_dirs
     # FIXME: missing dependency on the emulator binary and qemu-img
     test('qtest-@0@: @1@'.format(target_base, test),
          qtest_executables[test],
+         depends: [test_deps, qtest_emulator],
          env: qtest_env,
          args: ['--tap', '-k'],
          protocol: 'tap',