diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_monitor.c b/src/qemu/qemu_monitor.c
index 6ebdeb46f3..91e9f76944 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_monitor.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_monitor.c
@@ -223,12 +223,12 @@ qemuMonitorDispose(void *obj)
     g_free(mon->domainName);
 }
 
+#define QEMU_DEFAULT_MONITOR_WAIT 30
 
 static int
 qemuMonitorOpenUnix(const char *monitor,
                     pid_t cpid,
-                    bool retry,
-                    unsigned long long timeout)
+                    bool retry)
 {
     struct sockaddr_un addr;
     VIR_AUTOCLOSE monfd = -1;
@@ -250,7 +250,7 @@ qemuMonitorOpenUnix(const char *monitor,
     }
 
     if (retry) {
-        if (virTimeBackOffStart(&timebackoff, 1, timeout * 1000) < 0)
+        if (virTimeBackOffStart(&timebackoff, 1, QEMU_DEFAULT_MONITOR_WAIT * 1000) < 0)
             return -1;
         while (virTimeBackOffWait(&timebackoff)) {
             ret = connect(monfd, (struct sockaddr *)&addr, sizeof(addr));
@@ -694,20 +694,13 @@ qemuMonitorOpenInternal(virDomainObj *vm,
 }
 
 
-#define QEMU_DEFAULT_MONITOR_WAIT 30
-
 /**
  * qemuMonitorOpen:
  * @vm: domain object
  * @config: monitor configuration
- * @timeout: number of seconds to add to default timeout
  * @cb: monitor event handles
  *
- * Opens the monitor for running qemu. It may happen that it
- * takes some time for qemu to create the monitor socket (e.g.
- * because kernel is zeroing configured hugepages), therefore we
- * wait up to default + timeout seconds for the monitor to show
- * up after which a failure is claimed.
+ * Opens the monitor for running qemu.
  *
  * Returns monitor object, NULL on error.
  */
@@ -715,15 +708,12 @@ qemuMonitor *
 qemuMonitorOpen(virDomainObj *vm,
                 virDomainChrSourceDef *config,
                 bool retry,
-                unsigned long long timeout,
                 GMainContext *context,
                 qemuMonitorCallbacks *cb)
 {
     VIR_AUTOCLOSE fd = -1;
     qemuMonitor *ret = NULL;
 
-    timeout += QEMU_DEFAULT_MONITOR_WAIT;
-
     if (config->type != VIR_DOMAIN_CHR_TYPE_UNIX) {
         virReportError(VIR_ERR_INTERNAL_ERROR,
                        _("unable to handle monitor type: %s"),
@@ -732,8 +722,7 @@ qemuMonitorOpen(virDomainObj *vm,
     }
 
     virObjectUnlock(vm);
-    fd = qemuMonitorOpenUnix(config->data.nix.path,
-                             vm->pid, retry, timeout);
+    fd = qemuMonitorOpenUnix(config->data.nix.path, vm->pid, retry);
     virObjectLock(vm);
 
     if (fd < 0)
diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_monitor.h b/src/qemu/qemu_monitor.h
index b82f198285..2ef9118b84 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_monitor.h
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_monitor.h
@@ -409,10 +409,9 @@ struct _qemuMonitorCallbacks {
 qemuMonitor *qemuMonitorOpen(virDomainObj *vm,
                                virDomainChrSourceDef *config,
                                bool retry,
-                               unsigned long long timeout,
                                GMainContext *context,
                                qemuMonitorCallbacks *cb)
-    ATTRIBUTE_NONNULL(1) ATTRIBUTE_NONNULL(2) ATTRIBUTE_NONNULL(5);
+    ATTRIBUTE_NONNULL(1) ATTRIBUTE_NONNULL(2) ATTRIBUTE_NONNULL(4);
 
 void qemuMonitorWatchDispose(void);
 bool qemuMonitorWasDisposed(void);
diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_process.c b/src/qemu/qemu_process.c
index 42a5b3f643..1cd55fe989 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_process.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_process.c
@@ -1888,7 +1888,6 @@ qemuConnectMonitor(virQEMUDriver *driver,
 {
     qemuDomainObjPrivate *priv = vm->privateData;
     qemuMonitor *mon = NULL;
-    unsigned long long timeout = 0;
 
     if (qemuSecuritySetDaemonSocketLabel(driver->securityManager, vm->def) < 0) {
         VIR_ERROR(_("Failed to set security context for monitor for %s"),
@@ -1896,18 +1895,11 @@ qemuConnectMonitor(virQEMUDriver *driver,
         return -1;
     }
 
-    /* When using hugepages, kernel zeroes them out before
-     * handing them over to qemu. This can be very time
-     * consuming. Therefore, add a second to timeout for each
-     * 1GiB of guest RAM. */
-    timeout = virDomainDefGetMemoryTotal(vm->def) / (1024 * 1024);
-
     ignore_value(virTimeMillisNow(&priv->monStart));
 
     mon = qemuMonitorOpen(vm,
                           priv->monConfig,
                           false,
-                          timeout,
                           virEventThreadGetContext(priv->eventThread),
                           &monitorCallbacks);
 
@@ -9501,7 +9493,7 @@ qemuProcessQMPConnectMonitor(qemuProcessQMP *proc)
 
     proc->vm->pid = proc->pid;
 
-    if (!(proc->mon = qemuMonitorOpen(proc->vm, &monConfig, true, 0,
+    if (!(proc->mon = qemuMonitorOpen(proc->vm, &monConfig, true,
                                       virEventThreadGetContext(proc->eventThread),
                                       &callbacks)))
         return -1;
diff --git a/tests/qemumonitortestutils.c b/tests/qemumonitortestutils.c
index a5d716deee..50808f1fb5 100644
--- a/tests/qemumonitortestutils.c
+++ b/tests/qemumonitortestutils.c
@@ -1110,7 +1110,6 @@ qemuMonitorTestNew(virDomainXMLOption *xmlopt,
     if (!(test->mon = qemuMonitorOpen(test->vm,
                                       &src,
                                       true,
-                                      0,
                                       virEventThreadGetContext(test->eventThread),
                                       &qemuMonitorTestCallbacks)))
         goto error;