diff --git a/drivers/virtio/virtio_blk.c b/drivers/virtio/virtio_blk.c
index 45fb596a330..94968ef1c75 100644
--- a/drivers/virtio/virtio_blk.c
+++ b/drivers/virtio/virtio_blk.c
@@ -231,14 +231,11 @@ static int virtio_blk_bind(struct udevice *dev)
 		return devnum;
 	desc->devnum = devnum;
 	desc->part_type = PART_TYPE_UNKNOWN;
-	/*
-	 * virtio mmio transport supplies string identification for us,
-	 * while pci trnasport uses a 2-byte subvendor value.
-	 */
-	if (uc_priv->vendor >> 16)
-		sprintf(desc->vendor, "%s", (char *)&uc_priv->vendor);
+
+	if (uc_priv->vendor == VIRTIO_VENDOR_QEMU)
+		strcpy(desc->vendor, "QEMU");
 	else
-		sprintf(desc->vendor, "%04x", uc_priv->vendor);
+		sprintf(desc->vendor, "%08x", uc_priv->vendor);
 	desc->bdev = dev;
 
 	/* Indicate what driver features we support */
diff --git a/include/virtio.h b/include/virtio.h
index 17f894a79e3..3edf023463d 100644
--- a/include/virtio.h
+++ b/include/virtio.h
@@ -25,6 +25,9 @@
 #include <linux/bitops.h>
 #include <linux/bug.h>
 #include <linux/typecheck.h>
+
+#define VIRTIO_VENDOR_QEMU	0x554d4551
+
 #define VIRTIO_ID_NET		1 /* virtio net */
 #define VIRTIO_ID_BLOCK		2 /* virtio block */
 #define VIRTIO_ID_RNG		4 /* virtio rng */