diff --git a/board/qemu/start-qemu.sh.in b/board/qemu/start-qemu.sh.in
index cbc33a76d1..38024b449e 100644
--- a/board/qemu/start-qemu.sh.in
+++ b/board/qemu/start-qemu.sh.in
@@ -5,9 +5,11 @@ BINARIES_DIR="${0%/*}/"
 cd "${BINARIES_DIR}"
 
 mode_serial=false
+mode_sys_qemu=false
 while [ "$1" ]; do
     case "$1" in
     --serial-only|serial-only) mode_serial=true; shift;;
+    --use-system-qemu) mode_sys_qemu=true; shift;;
     --) shift; break;;
     *) echo "unknown option: $1" >&2; exit 1;;
     esac
@@ -19,5 +21,8 @@ else
     EXTRA_ARGS='@DEFAULT_ARGS@'
 fi
 
-export PATH="@HOST_DIR@/bin:${PATH}"
+if ! ${mode_sys_qemu}; then
+    export PATH="@HOST_DIR@/bin:${PATH}"
+fi
+
 exec @QEMU_CMD_LINE@ ${EXTRA_ARGS} "$@"