diff --git a/gnu-system.am b/gnu-system.am
index 2c257ba9eb..6d29f7c37c 100644
--- a/gnu-system.am
+++ b/gnu-system.am
@@ -319,7 +319,6 @@ dist_patch_DATA =						\
   gnu/packages/patches/procps-make-3.82.patch			\
   gnu/packages/patches/python-fix-tests.patch			\
   gnu/packages/patches/python-libffi-mips-n32-fix.patch		\
-  gnu/packages/patches/qemu-make-4.0.patch			\
   gnu/packages/patches/qemu-multiple-smb-shares.patch		\
   gnu/packages/patches/qt4-tests.patch				\
   gnu/packages/patches/ratpoison-shell.patch			\
diff --git a/gnu/packages/patches/qemu-make-4.0.patch b/gnu/packages/patches/qemu-make-4.0.patch
deleted file mode 100644
index 47bdc76b8a..0000000000
--- a/gnu/packages/patches/qemu-make-4.0.patch
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,32 +0,0 @@
-Allow compilation with GNU Make 4.0.
-Patch from <http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/qemu-devel/2013-10/msg02758.html>.
-Anaylsis at <http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-make/2013-10/msg00151.html>.
-
---- a/configure
-+++ b/configure
-@@ -308,6 +308,9 @@ query_pkg_config() {
- pkg_config=query_pkg_config
- sdl_config="${SDL_CONFIG-${cross_prefix}sdl-config}"
- 
-+# If the user hasn't specified ARFLAGS, default to 'rv', just as make does.
-+ARFLAGS="${ARFLAGS-rv}"
-+
- # default flags for all hosts
- QEMU_CFLAGS="-fno-strict-aliasing $QEMU_CFLAGS"
- QEMU_CFLAGS="-Wall -Wundef -Wwrite-strings -Wmissing-prototypes $QEMU_CFLAGS"
-@@ -3664,6 +3667,7 @@ echo "C compiler        $cc"
- echo "Host C compiler   $host_cc"
- echo "C++ compiler      $cxx"
- echo "Objective-C compiler $objcc"
-+echo "ARFLAGS           $ARFLAGS"
- echo "CFLAGS            $CFLAGS"
- echo "QEMU_CFLAGS       $QEMU_CFLAGS"
- echo "LDFLAGS           $LDFLAGS"
-@@ -4239,6 +4243,7 @@ echo "HOST_CC=$host_cc" >> $config_host_mak
- echo "CXX=$cxx" >> $config_host_mak
- echo "OBJCC=$objcc" >> $config_host_mak
- echo "AR=$ar" >> $config_host_mak
-+echo "ARFLAGS=$ARFLAGS" >> $config_host_mak
- echo "AS=$as" >> $config_host_mak
- echo "CPP=$cpp" >> $config_host_mak
- echo "OBJCOPY=$objcopy" >> $config_host_mak
diff --git a/gnu/packages/qemu.scm b/gnu/packages/qemu.scm
index e0b9e4aeb1..4567373aa9 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/qemu.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/qemu.scm
@@ -44,15 +44,14 @@ (define-public qemu-headless
   ;; This is QEMU without GUI support.
   (package
     (name "qemu-headless")
-    (version "1.6.1")
+    (version "1.7.1")
     (source (origin
              (method url-fetch)
              (uri (string-append "http://wiki.qemu-project.org/download/qemu-"
                                  version ".tar.bz2"))
              (sha256
               (base32
-               "152jc18mjs543k8ggbcwgra8d0zw81z0lcc1r0iq4iqhm926ywzw"))
-             (patches (list (search-patch "qemu-make-4.0.patch")))))
+               "1x5y06zhp0gc97g1sb98vf7dkawg63xywv0mbnpfnbi20jh452fn"))))
     (build-system gnu-build-system)
     (arguments
      '(#:phases (alist-replace
@@ -74,6 +73,7 @@ (define-public qemu-headless
                       (system* "./configure"
                                (string-append "--cc=" (which "gcc"))
                                "--disable-debug-info" ; save build space
+                               "--enable-virtfs"      ; just to be sure
                                (string-append "--prefix=" out)
                                (string-append "--smbd=" samba
                                               "/sbin/smbd")))))
@@ -103,6 +103,8 @@ (define-public qemu-headless
        ("pixman" ,pixman)
        ;; ("vde2" ,vde2)
        ("util-linux" ,util-linux)
+       ("libcap" ,libcap)           ; virtfs support requires libcap & libattr
+       ("libattr" ,attr)
        ;; ("pciutils" ,pciutils)
        ("alsa-lib" ,alsa-lib)
        ("zlib" ,zlib)