diff --git a/meta/lib/oeqa/utils/qemurunner.py b/meta/lib/oeqa/utils/qemurunner.py
index e408fbbf3a..b8ac3f0bb6 100644
--- a/meta/lib/oeqa/utils/qemurunner.py
+++ b/meta/lib/oeqa/utils/qemurunner.py
@@ -234,7 +234,7 @@ class QemuRunner:
                         data = data + sock.recv(1024)
                         if data:
                             try:
-                                data = data.decode("utf-8")
+                                data = data.decode("utf-8", errors="surrogateescape")
                                 bootlog += data
                                 data = b''
                                 if re.search(".* login:", bootlog):