diff --git a/meta-arm/conf/machine/qemuarm64-secureboot.conf b/meta-arm/conf/machine/qemuarm64-secureboot.conf
index 99d92e07..22fb1d3e 100644
--- a/meta-arm/conf/machine/qemuarm64-secureboot.conf
+++ b/meta-arm/conf/machine/qemuarm64-secureboot.conf
@@ -4,6 +4,9 @@ require ${COREBASE}/meta/conf/machine/qemuarm64.conf
 
 KMACHINE = "qemuarm64"
 
+# secure=on can't ever use KVM, so force it off
+QEMU_USE_KVM = ""
+
 QB_MACHINE = "-machine virt,secure=on"
 QB_OPT_APPEND += "-no-acpi"
 QB_MEM = "-m 1024"