diff --git a/softmmu/vl.c b/softmmu/vl.c
index 10bd8a10a324..7e8110bd6ea3 100644
--- a/softmmu/vl.c
+++ b/softmmu/vl.c
@@ -2361,11 +2361,6 @@ static void qemu_process_early_options(void)
                       cleanup_add_fd, NULL, &error_fatal);
 #endif
 
-    if (!trace_init_backends()) {
-        exit(1);
-    }
-    trace_init_file();
-
     /* Open the logfile at this point and set the log mask if necessary.  */
     qemu_set_log_filename(log_file, &error_fatal);
     if (log_mask) {
@@ -3475,6 +3470,19 @@ void qemu_init(int argc, char **argv, char **envp)
     qemu_process_help_options();
     qemu_maybe_daemonize(pid_file);
 
+    /*
+     * The trace backend must be initialized after daemonizing.
+     * trace_init_backends() will call st_init(), which will create the
+     * trace thread in the parent, and also register st_flush_trace_buffer()
+     * in atexit(). This function will force the parent to wait for the
+     * writeout thread to finish, which will not occur, and the parent
+     * process will be left in the host.
+     */
+    if (!trace_init_backends()) {
+        exit(1);
+    }
+    trace_init_file();
+
     qemu_init_main_loop(&error_fatal);
     cpu_timers_init();