diff --git a/src/util/command.c b/src/util/command.c
index 49ec1787c1..418b198b92 100644
--- a/src/util/command.c
+++ b/src/util/command.c
@@ -1614,9 +1614,10 @@ virCommandWriteArgLog(virCommandPtr cmd, int logfd)
  * virCommandToString:
  * @cmd: the command to convert
  *
- * Call after adding all arguments and environment settings, but before
- * Run/RunAsync, to return a string representation of the environment and
- * arguments of cmd.  If virCommandRun cannot succeed (because of an
+ * Call after adding all arguments and environment settings, but
+ * before Run/RunAsync, to return a string representation of the
+ * environment and arguments of cmd, suitably quoted for pasting into
+ * a shell.  If virCommandRun cannot succeed (because of an
  * out-of-memory condition while building cmd), NULL will be returned.
  * Caller is responsible for freeing the resulting string.
  */
@@ -1639,13 +1640,25 @@ virCommandToString(virCommandPtr cmd)
     }
 
     for (i = 0; i < cmd->nenv; i++) {
-        virBufferAdd(&buf, cmd->env[i], strlen(cmd->env[i]));
+        /* In shell, a='b c' has a different meaning than 'a=b c', so
+         * we must determine where the '=' lives.  */
+        char *eq = strchr(cmd->env[i], '=');
+
+        if (!eq) {
+            virBufferFreeAndReset(&buf);
+            virReportError(VIR_ERR_INTERNAL_ERROR, "%s",
+                           _("invalid use of command API"));
+            return NULL;
+        }
+        eq++;
+        virBufferAdd(&buf, cmd->env[i], eq - cmd->env[i]);
+        virBufferEscapeShell(&buf, eq);
         virBufferAddChar(&buf, ' ');
     }
-    virBufferAdd(&buf, cmd->args[0], strlen(cmd->args[0]));
+    virBufferEscapeShell(&buf, cmd->args[0]);
     for (i = 1; i < cmd->nargs; i++) {
         virBufferAddChar(&buf, ' ');
-        virBufferAdd(&buf, cmd->args[i], strlen(cmd->args[i]));
+        virBufferEscapeShell(&buf, cmd->args[i]);
     }
 
     if (virBufferError(&buf)) {
diff --git a/tests/commanddata/test16.log b/tests/commanddata/test16.log
index 70881650a6..119dd29e92 100644
--- a/tests/commanddata/test16.log
+++ b/tests/commanddata/test16.log
@@ -1 +1 @@
-A=B true C
+A=B C=D  E true F G  H
diff --git a/tests/commandtest.c b/tests/commandtest.c
index b1c752373b..c00515373a 100644
--- a/tests/commandtest.c
+++ b/tests/commandtest.c
@@ -607,12 +607,14 @@ static int test16(const void *unused ATTRIBUTE_UNUSED)
 {
     virCommandPtr cmd = virCommandNew("true");
     char *outactual = NULL;
-    const char *outexpect = "A=B true C";
+    const char *outexpect = "A=B C='D  E' true F 'G  H'";
     int ret = -1;
     int fd = -1;
 
     virCommandAddEnvPair(cmd, "A", "B");
-    virCommandAddArg(cmd, "C");
+    virCommandAddEnvPair(cmd, "C", "D  E");
+    virCommandAddArg(cmd, "F");
+    virCommandAddArg(cmd, "G  H");
 
     if ((outactual = virCommandToString(cmd)) == NULL) {
         virErrorPtr err = virGetLastError();
diff --git a/tests/networkxml2argvdata/nat-network-dns-txt-record.argv b/tests/networkxml2argvdata/nat-network-dns-txt-record.argv
index 1b318716e5..2a6c799e3e 100644
--- a/tests/networkxml2argvdata/nat-network-dns-txt-record.argv
+++ b/tests/networkxml2argvdata/nat-network-dns-txt-record.argv
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 @DNSMASQ@ --strict-order --bind-interfaces \
 --local=// --domain-needed --filterwin2k --conf-file= \
---except-interface lo --txt-record=example,example value \
+--except-interface lo '--txt-record=example,example value' \
 --listen-address 192.168.122.1 --listen-address 192.168.123.1 \
 --listen-address 2001:db8:ac10:fe01::1 \
 --listen-address 2001:db8:ac10:fd01::1 --listen-address 10.24.10.1 \
diff --git a/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/qemuxml2argv-disk-drive-network-rbd-auth.args b/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/qemuxml2argv-disk-drive-network-rbd-auth.args
index b323e91383..02a98692da 100644
--- a/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/qemuxml2argv-disk-drive-network-rbd-auth.args
+++ b/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/qemuxml2argv-disk-drive-network-rbd-auth.args
@@ -2,9 +2,10 @@ LC_ALL=C PATH=/bin HOME=/home/test USER=test LOGNAME=test \
 /usr/bin/qemu -S -M pc -m 214 -smp 1 -nographic -monitor \
 unix:/tmp/test-monitor,server,nowait -no-acpi -boot c -drive \
 file=/dev/HostVG/QEMUGuest1,if=ide,bus=0,unit=0 -drive \
-file=rbd:pool/image:\
+'file=rbd:pool/image:\
 id=myname:\
 key=QVFDVm41aE82SHpGQWhBQXEwTkN2OGp0SmNJY0UrSE9CbE1RMUE=:\
 auth_supported=cephx\;none:\
-mon_host=mon1.example.org\:6321\;mon2.example.org\:6322\;mon3.example.org\:6322,\
-if=virtio,format=raw -net none -serial none -parallel none -usb
+mon_host=mon1.example.org\:6321\;mon2.example.org\:6322\;\
+mon3.example.org\:6322,\
+if=virtio,format=raw' -net none -serial none -parallel none -usb
diff --git a/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/qemuxml2argv-disk-drive-network-rbd.args b/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/qemuxml2argv-disk-drive-network-rbd.args
index 69cf7c7219..61c8f7dd17 100644
--- a/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/qemuxml2argv-disk-drive-network-rbd.args
+++ b/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/qemuxml2argv-disk-drive-network-rbd.args
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ LC_ALL=C PATH=/bin HOME=/home/test USER=test LOGNAME=test \
 /usr/bin/qemu -S -M pc -m 214 -smp 1 -nographic -monitor \
 unix:/tmp/test-monitor,server,nowait -no-acpi -boot c -drive \
 file=/dev/HostVG/QEMUGuest1,if=ide,bus=0,unit=0 -drive \
-file=rbd:pool/image:auth_supported=none:\
-mon_host=mon1.example.org\:6321\;mon2.example.org\:6322\;mon3.example.org\:6322,\
-if=virtio,format=raw -net none -serial none -parallel none -usb
+'file=rbd:pool/image:auth_supported=none:\
+mon_host=mon1.example.org\:6321\;mon2.example.org\:6322\;\
+mon3.example.org\:6322,\
+if=virtio,format=raw' -net none -serial none -parallel none -usb
diff --git a/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/qemuxml2argv-graphics-vnc.args b/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/qemuxml2argv-graphics-vnc.args
index 2af154065c..af99225b00 100644
--- a/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/qemuxml2argv-graphics-vnc.args
+++ b/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/qemuxml2argv-graphics-vnc.args
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
 LC_ALL=C PATH=/bin HOME=/home/test USER=test LOGNAME=test QEMU_AUDIO_DRV=none \
 /usr/bin/qemu -S -M pc -m 214 -smp 1 -monitor unix:/tmp/test-monitor,server,\
 nowait -no-acpi -boot c -hda /dev/HostVG/QEMUGuest1 -net none -serial none \
--parallel none -usb -vnc [2001:1:2:3:4:5:1234:1234]:3
+-parallel none -usb -vnc '[2001:1:2:3:4:5:1234:1234]:3'
diff --git a/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/qemuxml2argv-qemu-ns.args b/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/qemuxml2argv-qemu-ns.args
index 19450a117b..88bdd13f3d 100644
--- a/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/qemuxml2argv-qemu-ns.args
+++ b/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/qemuxml2argv-qemu-ns.args
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-LC_ALL=C PATH=/bin HOME=/home/test USER=test LOGNAME=test NS=ns BAR= \
+LC_ALL=C PATH=/bin HOME=/home/test USER=test LOGNAME=test NS=ns BAR='' \
 /usr/bin/qemu -S -M pc -m 214 -smp 1 -nographic -monitor \
 unix:/tmp/test-monitor,server,nowait -no-acpi -boot c -hda \
 /dev/HostVG/QEMUGuest1 -net none -serial none -parallel none -usb -unknown \
diff --git a/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/qemuxml2argv-smbios.args b/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/qemuxml2argv-smbios.args
index 3f6cb818e1..ac28badeba 100644
--- a/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/qemuxml2argv-smbios.args
+++ b/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/qemuxml2argv-smbios.args
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 LC_ALL=C PATH=/bin HOME=/home/test USER=test LOGNAME=test /usr/bin/qemu -S -M \
-pc -m 214 -smp 1 -smbios type=0,vendor=LENOVO,version=6FET82WW (3.12 ) -smbios \
-type=1,manufacturer=Fedora,product=Virt-Manager,version=0.8.2-3.fc14,\
+pc -m 214 -smp 1 -smbios 'type=0,vendor=LENOVO,version=6FET82WW (3.12 )' \
+-smbios 'type=1,manufacturer=Fedora,product=Virt-Manager,version=0.8.2-3.fc14,\
 serial=32dfcb37-5af1-552b-357c-be8c3aa38310,\
-uuid=c7a5fdbd-edaf-9455-926a-d65c16db1809,sku=1234567890,family=Red Hat \
+uuid=c7a5fdbd-edaf-9455-926a-d65c16db1809,sku=1234567890,family=Red Hat' \
 -nographic -monitor unix:/tmp/test-monitor,server,nowait -no-acpi -boot c -hda \
 /dev/HostVG/QEMUGuest1 -net none -serial none -parallel none -usb