diff --git a/hw/vfio/common.c b/hw/vfio/common.c
index 598272f4dd..fd24b7ced8 100644
--- a/hw/vfio/common.c
+++ b/hw/vfio/common.c
@@ -170,11 +170,26 @@ bool vfio_device_state_is_precopy(VFIODevice *vbasedev)
            migration->device_state == VFIO_DEVICE_STATE_PRE_COPY_P2P;
 }
 
+static bool vfio_devices_all_device_dirty_tracking_started(
+    const VFIOContainerBase *bcontainer)
+{
+    VFIODevice *vbasedev;
+
+    QLIST_FOREACH(vbasedev, &bcontainer->device_list, container_next) {
+        if (!vbasedev->dirty_tracking) {
+            return false;
+        }
+    }
+
+    return true;
+}
+
 static bool vfio_devices_all_dirty_tracking(VFIOContainerBase *bcontainer)
 {
     VFIODevice *vbasedev;
 
-    if (!migration_is_active() && !migration_is_device()) {
+    if (!(vfio_devices_all_device_dirty_tracking_started(bcontainer) ||
+          bcontainer->dirty_pages_started)) {
         return false;
     }
 
diff --git a/include/hw/vfio/vfio-common.h b/include/hw/vfio/vfio-common.h
index d57111843d..a9a68e3fd9 100644
--- a/include/hw/vfio/vfio-common.h
+++ b/include/hw/vfio/vfio-common.h
@@ -143,7 +143,7 @@ typedef struct VFIODevice {
     OnOffAuto pre_copy_dirty_page_tracking;
     OnOffAuto device_dirty_page_tracking;
     bool dirty_pages_supported;
-    bool dirty_tracking;
+    bool dirty_tracking; /* Protected by BQL */
     bool iommu_dirty_tracking;
     HostIOMMUDevice *hiod;
     int devid;