diff --git a/tests/qemu-iotests/check b/tests/qemu-iotests/check
index da7e8a87fed7..bb294ef556d2 100755
--- a/tests/qemu-iotests/check
+++ b/tests/qemu-iotests/check
@@ -145,7 +145,8 @@ if __name__ == '__main__':
                   aiomode=args.aiomode, cachemode=args.cachemode,
                   imgopts=args.imgopts, misalign=args.misalign,
                   debug=args.debug, valgrind=args.valgrind,
-                  gdb=args.gdb, qprint=args.print)
+                  gdb=args.gdb, qprint=args.print,
+                  dry_run=args.dry_run)
 
     if len(sys.argv) > 1 and sys.argv[-len(args.tests)-1] == '--':
         if not args.tests:
diff --git a/tests/qemu-iotests/testenv.py b/tests/qemu-iotests/testenv.py
index aa9d73541458..9a37ad915291 100644
--- a/tests/qemu-iotests/testenv.py
+++ b/tests/qemu-iotests/testenv.py
@@ -178,7 +178,8 @@ def __init__(self, source_dir: str, build_dir: str,
                  debug: bool = False,
                  valgrind: bool = False,
                  gdb: bool = False,
-                 qprint: bool = False) -> None:
+                 qprint: bool = False,
+                 dry_run: bool = False) -> None:
         self.imgfmt = imgfmt
         self.imgproto = imgproto
         self.aiomode = aiomode
@@ -218,6 +219,10 @@ def __init__(self, source_dir: str, build_dir: str,
         self.build_root = os.path.join(self.build_iotests, '..', '..')
 
         self.init_directories()
+
+        if dry_run:
+            return
+
         self.init_binaries()
 
         self.malloc_perturb_ = os.getenv('MALLOC_PERTURB_',