diff --git a/qemu-vm b/qemu-vm
index 60c2fb4..8a7b1b3 100755
--- a/qemu-vm
+++ b/qemu-vm
@@ -90,17 +90,11 @@ $SUDO qemu-system-$(uname -m) \
   -drive if=pflash,format=raw,readonly=on,file="$EFI_FIRMWARE" \
   -drive if=pflash,format=raw,file="$EFI_VARS" \
   "${qemu_arguments[@]}" &
-qemu_pid="$!"
 set +x
-while :; do
-    _l="$(ps --ppid "$qemu_pid" | tail -n+2 || true)"
-    if [ "$_l" = '' ]; then
-        echo waiting
-        sleep .1
-        continue
-    fi
-    qemu_pid="$(awk '{print $1}' <<< "$_l")"
-    break
+qemu_pid=
+while [[ "$qemu_pid" = '' ]]; do
+    qemu_pid="$(pidof qemu-system-$(uname -m) || true)"
+    sleep .1
 done
 $SUDO qemu-affinity \
     -k $(qemu-vm-cpus decompress_seq "$(qemu-vm-cpus compute_vm $NUM_PROCESSORS)") \