diff --git a/virtio-devices/src/transport/pci_device.rs b/virtio-devices/src/transport/pci_device.rs
index a26cc335e..76b726b47 100644
--- a/virtio-devices/src/transport/pci_device.rs
+++ b/virtio-devices/src/transport/pci_device.rs
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ use std::io::Write;
 use std::num::Wrapping;
 use std::result;
 use std::sync::atomic::{AtomicU16, AtomicUsize, Ordering};
-use std::sync::{Arc, Barrier, Mutex};
+use std::sync::{atomic::AtomicBool, Arc, Barrier, Mutex};
 use vm_allocator::SystemAllocator;
 use vm_device::interrupt::{
     InterruptIndex, InterruptManager, InterruptSourceGroup, MsiIrqGroupConfig,
@@ -292,7 +292,7 @@ pub struct VirtioPciDevice {
 
     // Virtio device reference and status
     device: Arc<Mutex<dyn VirtioDevice>>,
-    device_activated: bool,
+    device_activated: Arc<AtomicBool>,
 
     // PCI interrupts.
     interrupt_status: Arc<AtomicUsize>,
@@ -323,10 +323,17 @@ pub struct VirtioPciDevice {
 
     // Details of bar regions to free
     bar_regions: Vec<(GuestAddress, GuestUsize, PciBarRegionType)>,
+
+    // EventFd to signal on to request activation
+    activate_evt: EventFd,
+
+    // Barrier that is used to wait on for activation
+    activate_barrier: Arc<Barrier>,
 }
 
 impl VirtioPciDevice {
     /// Constructs a new PCI transport for the given virtio device.
+    #[allow(clippy::too_many_arguments)]
     pub fn new(
         id: String,
         memory: GuestMemoryAtomic<GuestMemoryMmap>,
@@ -335,6 +342,7 @@ impl VirtioPciDevice {
         iommu_mapping_cb: Option<Arc<VirtioIommuRemapping>>,
         interrupt_manager: &Arc<dyn InterruptManager<GroupConfig = MsiIrqGroupConfig>>,
         pci_device_bdf: u32,
+        activate_evt: EventFd,
     ) -> Result<Self> {
         let device_clone = device.clone();
         let locked_device = device_clone.lock().unwrap();
@@ -420,7 +428,7 @@ impl VirtioPciDevice {
             msix_config,
             msix_num,
             device,
-            device_activated: false,
+            device_activated: Arc::new(AtomicBool::new(false)),
             interrupt_status: Arc::new(AtomicUsize::new(0)),
             virtio_interrupt: None,
             queues,
@@ -432,6 +440,8 @@ impl VirtioPciDevice {
             interrupt_source_group,
             cap_pci_cfg_info: VirtioPciCfgCapInfo::default(),
             bar_regions: vec![],
+            activate_evt,
+            activate_barrier: Arc::new(Barrier::new(2)),
         };
 
         if let Some(msix_config) = &virtio_pci_device.msix_config {
@@ -447,14 +457,15 @@ impl VirtioPciDevice {
 
     fn state(&self) -> VirtioPciDeviceState {
         VirtioPciDeviceState {
-            device_activated: self.device_activated,
+            device_activated: self.device_activated.load(Ordering::Acquire),
             interrupt_status: self.interrupt_status.load(Ordering::Acquire),
             queues: self.queues.clone(),
         }
     }
 
     fn set_state(&mut self, state: &VirtioPciDeviceState) -> std::result::Result<(), Error> {
-        self.device_activated = state.device_activated;
+        self.device_activated
+            .store(state.device_activated, Ordering::Release);
         self.interrupt_status
             .store(state.interrupt_status, Ordering::Release);
 
@@ -656,14 +667,19 @@ impl VirtioPciDevice {
                             self.queue_evts.split_off(0),
                         )
                         .expect("Failed to activate device");
-                    self.device_activated = true;
+                    self.device_activated.store(true, Ordering::SeqCst);
+                    info!("Waiting for barrier");
+                    self.activate_barrier.wait();
+                    info!("Barrier released");
                 }
             }
         }
     }
 
     fn needs_activation(&self) -> bool {
-        !self.device_activated && self.is_driver_ready() && self.are_queues_valid()
+        !self.device_activated.load(Ordering::SeqCst)
+            && self.is_driver_ready()
+            && self.are_queues_valid()
     }
 }
 
@@ -1001,17 +1017,20 @@ impl PciDevice for VirtioPciDevice {
         };
 
         // Try and activate the device if the driver status has changed
-        self.maybe_activate();
+        if self.needs_activation() {
+            self.activate_evt.write(1).ok();
+            return Some(self.activate_barrier.clone());
+        }
 
         // Device has been reset by the driver
-        if self.device_activated && self.is_driver_init() {
+        if self.device_activated.load(Ordering::SeqCst) && self.is_driver_init() {
             let mut device = self.device.lock().unwrap();
             if let Some((virtio_interrupt, mut queue_evts)) = device.reset() {
                 // Upon reset the device returns its interrupt EventFD and it's queue EventFDs
                 self.virtio_interrupt = Some(virtio_interrupt);
                 self.queue_evts.append(&mut queue_evts);
 
-                self.device_activated = false;
+                self.device_activated.store(false, Ordering::SeqCst);
 
                 // Reset queue readiness (changes queue_enable), queue sizes
                 // and selected_queue as per spec for reset
@@ -1128,7 +1147,10 @@ impl Snapshottable for VirtioPciDevice {
             // Then we can activate the device, as we know at this point that
             // the virtqueues are in the right state and the device is ready
             // to be activated, which will spawn each virtio worker thread.
-            if self.device_activated && self.is_driver_ready() && self.are_queues_valid() {
+            if self.device_activated.load(Ordering::SeqCst)
+                && self.is_driver_ready()
+                && self.are_queues_valid()
+            {
                 if let Some(virtio_interrupt) = self.virtio_interrupt.take() {
                     if self.memory.is_some() {
                         let mem = self.memory.as_ref().unwrap().clone();
diff --git a/vmm/src/device_manager.rs b/vmm/src/device_manager.rs
index a9687fd09..621bd526f 100644
--- a/vmm/src/device_manager.rs
+++ b/vmm/src/device_manager.rs
@@ -776,6 +776,10 @@ pub struct DeviceManager {
 
     // Possible handle to the virtio-balloon device
     balloon: Option<Arc<Mutex<virtio_devices::Balloon>>>,
+
+    // Virtio Device activation EventFd to allow the VMM thread to trigger device
+    // activation and thus start the threads from the VMM thread
+    activate_evt: EventFd,
 }
 
 impl DeviceManager {
@@ -788,6 +792,7 @@ impl DeviceManager {
         reset_evt: &EventFd,
         seccomp_action: SeccompAction,
         #[cfg(feature = "acpi")] numa_nodes: NumaNodes,
+        activate_evt: &EventFd,
     ) -> DeviceManagerResult<Arc<Mutex<Self>>> {
         let device_tree = Arc::new(Mutex::new(DeviceTree::new()));
 
@@ -844,6 +849,9 @@ impl DeviceManager {
             #[cfg(feature = "acpi")]
             numa_nodes,
             balloon: None,
+            activate_evt: activate_evt
+                .try_clone()
+                .map_err(DeviceManagerError::EventFd)?,
         };
 
         #[cfg(feature = "acpi")]
@@ -2739,6 +2747,9 @@ impl DeviceManager {
             iommu_mapping_cb,
             interrupt_manager,
             pci_device_bdf,
+            self.activate_evt
+                .try_clone()
+                .map_err(DeviceManagerError::EventFd)?,
         )
         .map_err(DeviceManagerError::VirtioDevice)?;
 
@@ -2834,6 +2845,18 @@ impl DeviceManager {
         Ok(())
     }
 
+    pub fn activate_virtio_devices(&self) -> DeviceManagerResult<()> {
+        // Find virtio pci devices and activate any pending ones
+        for (_, any_device) in self.pci_devices.iter() {
+            if let Ok(virtio_pci_device) =
+                Arc::clone(any_device).downcast::<Mutex<VirtioPciDevice>>()
+            {
+                virtio_pci_device.lock().unwrap().maybe_activate();
+            }
+        }
+        Ok(())
+    }
+
     pub fn notify_hotplug(
         &self,
         _notification_type: HotPlugNotificationFlags,
diff --git a/vmm/src/lib.rs b/vmm/src/lib.rs
index 769833869..d4ae73a09 100644
--- a/vmm/src/lib.rs
+++ b/vmm/src/lib.rs
@@ -131,6 +131,10 @@ pub enum Error {
     /// Cannot apply seccomp filter
     #[error("Error applying seccomp filter: {0}")]
     ApplySeccompFilter(seccomp::Error),
+
+    /// Error activating virtio devices
+    #[error("Error activating virtio devices: {0:?}")]
+    ActivateVirtioDevices(VmError),
 }
 pub type Result<T> = result::Result<T, Error>;
 
@@ -140,6 +144,7 @@ pub enum EpollDispatch {
     Reset,
     Stdin,
     Api,
+    ActivateVirtioDevices,
 }
 
 pub struct EpollContext {
@@ -281,6 +286,7 @@ pub struct Vmm {
     vm_config: Option<Arc<Mutex<VmConfig>>>,
     seccomp_action: SeccompAction,
     hypervisor: Arc<dyn hypervisor::Hypervisor>,
+    activate_evt: EventFd,
 }
 
 impl Vmm {
@@ -293,6 +299,7 @@ impl Vmm {
         let mut epoll = EpollContext::new().map_err(Error::Epoll)?;
         let exit_evt = EventFd::new(EFD_NONBLOCK).map_err(Error::EventFdCreate)?;
         let reset_evt = EventFd::new(EFD_NONBLOCK).map_err(Error::EventFdCreate)?;
+        let activate_evt = EventFd::new(EFD_NONBLOCK).map_err(Error::EventFdCreate)?;
 
         if unsafe { libc::isatty(libc::STDIN_FILENO as i32) } != 0 {
             epoll.add_stdin().map_err(Error::Epoll)?;
@@ -306,6 +313,10 @@ impl Vmm {
             .add_event(&reset_evt, EpollDispatch::Reset)
             .map_err(Error::Epoll)?;
 
+        epoll
+            .add_event(&activate_evt, EpollDispatch::ActivateVirtioDevices)
+            .map_err(Error::Epoll)?;
+
         epoll
             .add_event(&api_evt, EpollDispatch::Api)
             .map_err(Error::Epoll)?;
@@ -320,6 +331,7 @@ impl Vmm {
             vm_config: None,
             seccomp_action,
             hypervisor,
+            activate_evt,
         })
     }
 
@@ -328,6 +340,10 @@ impl Vmm {
         if self.vm.is_none() {
             let exit_evt = self.exit_evt.try_clone().map_err(VmError::EventFdClone)?;
             let reset_evt = self.reset_evt.try_clone().map_err(VmError::EventFdClone)?;
+            let activate_evt = self
+                .activate_evt
+                .try_clone()
+                .map_err(VmError::EventFdClone)?;
 
             if let Some(ref vm_config) = self.vm_config {
                 let vm = Vm::new(
@@ -336,6 +352,7 @@ impl Vmm {
                     reset_evt,
                     &self.seccomp_action,
                     self.hypervisor.clone(),
+                    activate_evt,
                 )?;
                 self.vm = Some(vm);
             }
@@ -397,6 +414,10 @@ impl Vmm {
 
         let exit_evt = self.exit_evt.try_clone().map_err(VmError::EventFdClone)?;
         let reset_evt = self.reset_evt.try_clone().map_err(VmError::EventFdClone)?;
+        let activate_evt = self
+            .activate_evt
+            .try_clone()
+            .map_err(VmError::EventFdClone)?;
 
         let vm = Vm::new_from_snapshot(
             &snapshot,
@@ -406,6 +427,7 @@ impl Vmm {
             restore_cfg.prefault,
             &self.seccomp_action,
             self.hypervisor.clone(),
+            activate_evt,
         )?;
         self.vm = Some(vm);
 
@@ -443,6 +465,10 @@ impl Vmm {
 
             let exit_evt = self.exit_evt.try_clone().map_err(VmError::EventFdClone)?;
             let reset_evt = self.reset_evt.try_clone().map_err(VmError::EventFdClone)?;
+            let activate_evt = self
+                .activate_evt
+                .try_clone()
+                .map_err(VmError::EventFdClone)?;
 
             // The Linux kernel fires off an i8042 reset after doing the ACPI reset so there may be
             // an event sitting in the shared reset_evt. Without doing this we get very early reboots
@@ -456,6 +482,7 @@ impl Vmm {
                 reset_evt,
                 &self.seccomp_action,
                 self.hypervisor.clone(),
+                activate_evt,
             )?);
         }
 
@@ -676,6 +703,10 @@ impl Vmm {
         let reset_evt = self.reset_evt.try_clone().map_err(|e| {
             MigratableError::MigrateReceive(anyhow!("Error cloning reset EventFd: {}", e))
         })?;
+        let activate_evt = self.activate_evt.try_clone().map_err(|e| {
+            MigratableError::MigrateReceive(anyhow!("Error cloning activate EventFd: {}", e))
+        })?;
+
         self.vm_config = Some(Arc::new(Mutex::new(config)));
         let vm = Vm::new_from_migration(
             self.vm_config.clone().unwrap(),
@@ -683,6 +714,7 @@ impl Vmm {
             reset_evt,
             &self.seccomp_action,
             self.hypervisor.clone(),
+            activate_evt,
         )
         .map_err(|e| {
             MigratableError::MigrateReceive(anyhow!("Error creating VM from snapshot: {:?}", e))
@@ -1065,6 +1097,13 @@ impl Vmm {
                                 vm.handle_stdin().map_err(Error::Stdin)?;
                             }
                         }
+                        EpollDispatch::ActivateVirtioDevices => {
+                            if let Some(ref vm) = self.vm {
+                                vm.activate_virtio_devices()
+                                    .map_err(Error::ActivateVirtioDevices)?;
+                            }
+                            self.activate_evt.read().map_err(Error::EventFdRead)?;
+                        }
                         EpollDispatch::Api => {
                             // Consume the event.
                             self.api_evt.read().map_err(Error::EventFdRead)?;
diff --git a/vmm/src/vm.rs b/vmm/src/vm.rs
index 0e15999bd..9b6b8aaf4 100644
--- a/vmm/src/vm.rs
+++ b/vmm/src/vm.rs
@@ -227,6 +227,9 @@ pub enum Error {
 
     /// Failed setting the VmmOps interface.
     SetVmmOpsInterface(hypervisor::HypervisorVmError),
+
+    /// Cannot activate virtio devices
+    ActivateVirtioDevices(device_manager::DeviceManagerError),
 }
 pub type Result<T> = result::Result<T, Error>;
 
@@ -488,6 +491,7 @@ impl Vm {
         seccomp_action: &SeccompAction,
         hypervisor: Arc<dyn hypervisor::Hypervisor>,
         #[cfg(feature = "kvm")] _saved_clock: Option<hypervisor::ClockData>,
+        activate_evt: EventFd,
     ) -> Result<Self> {
         config
             .lock()
@@ -509,6 +513,7 @@ impl Vm {
             seccomp_action.clone(),
             #[cfg(feature = "acpi")]
             numa_nodes.clone(),
+            &activate_evt,
         )
         .map_err(Error::DeviceManager)?;
 
@@ -646,6 +651,7 @@ impl Vm {
         reset_evt: EventFd,
         seccomp_action: &SeccompAction,
         hypervisor: Arc<dyn hypervisor::Hypervisor>,
+        activate_evt: EventFd,
     ) -> Result<Self> {
         #[cfg(all(feature = "kvm", target_arch = "x86_64"))]
         hypervisor.check_required_extensions().unwrap();
@@ -682,6 +688,7 @@ impl Vm {
             hypervisor,
             #[cfg(feature = "kvm")]
             None,
+            activate_evt,
         )?;
 
         // The device manager must create the devices from here as it is part
@@ -704,6 +711,7 @@ impl Vm {
         prefault: bool,
         seccomp_action: &SeccompAction,
         hypervisor: Arc<dyn hypervisor::Hypervisor>,
+        activate_evt: EventFd,
     ) -> Result<Self> {
         #[cfg(all(feature = "kvm", target_arch = "x86_64"))]
         hypervisor.check_required_extensions().unwrap();
@@ -746,6 +754,7 @@ impl Vm {
             hypervisor,
             #[cfg(feature = "kvm")]
             None,
+            activate_evt,
         )
     }
 
@@ -755,6 +764,7 @@ impl Vm {
         reset_evt: EventFd,
         seccomp_action: &SeccompAction,
         hypervisor: Arc<dyn hypervisor::Hypervisor>,
+        activate_evt: EventFd,
     ) -> Result<Self> {
         #[cfg(all(feature = "kvm", target_arch = "x86_64"))]
         hypervisor.check_required_extensions().unwrap();
@@ -781,6 +791,7 @@ impl Vm {
             hypervisor,
             #[cfg(feature = "kvm")]
             None,
+            activate_evt,
         )
     }
 
@@ -1739,6 +1750,14 @@ impl Vm {
     pub fn device_tree(&self) -> Arc<Mutex<DeviceTree>> {
         self.device_manager.lock().unwrap().device_tree()
     }
+
+    pub fn activate_virtio_devices(&self) -> Result<()> {
+        self.device_manager
+            .lock()
+            .unwrap()
+            .activate_virtio_devices()
+            .map_err(Error::ActivateVirtioDevices)
+    }
 }
 
 impl Pausable for Vm {