diff --git a/src/backends/drm/drm_egl_cursor_layer.cpp b/src/backends/drm/drm_egl_cursor_layer.cpp
index 6333fd3851..022d0bf6d5 100644
--- a/src/backends/drm/drm_egl_cursor_layer.cpp
+++ b/src/backends/drm/drm_egl_cursor_layer.cpp
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ namespace KWin
 
 EglGbmCursorLayer::EglGbmCursorLayer(EglGbmBackend *eglBackend, DrmPipeline *pipeline)
     : DrmPipelineLayer(pipeline)
-    , m_surface(pipeline->gpu(), eglBackend, pipeline->gpu()->atomicModeSetting() ? EglGbmLayerSurface::BufferTarget::Linear : EglGbmLayerSurface::BufferTarget::Dumb, EglGbmLayerSurface::FormatOption::RequireAlpha)
+    , m_surface(pipeline->gpu(), eglBackend, pipeline->gpu()->atomicModeSetting() && !pipeline->gpu()->isVirtualMachine() ? EglGbmLayerSurface::BufferTarget::Linear : EglGbmLayerSurface::BufferTarget::Dumb, EglGbmLayerSurface::FormatOption::RequireAlpha)
 {
 }
 
diff --git a/src/backends/drm/drm_gpu.cpp b/src/backends/drm/drm_gpu.cpp
index 63f35f3d0b..df392d1cdf 100644
--- a/src/backends/drm/drm_gpu.cpp
+++ b/src/backends/drm/drm_gpu.cpp
@@ -692,6 +692,11 @@ bool DrmGpu::isVmwgfx() const
     return m_isVmwgfx;
 }
 
+bool DrmGpu::isVirtualMachine() const
+{
+    return m_isVirtualMachine;
+}
+
 bool DrmGpu::isRemoved() const
 {
     return m_isRemoved;
diff --git a/src/backends/drm/drm_gpu.h b/src/backends/drm/drm_gpu.h
index 2eebaba42f..fd2d1c67fa 100644
--- a/src/backends/drm/drm_gpu.h
+++ b/src/backends/drm/drm_gpu.h
@@ -80,6 +80,7 @@ public:
     bool isNVidia() const;
     bool isAmdgpu() const;
     bool isVmwgfx() const;
+    bool isVirtualMachine() const;
     EglDisplay *eglDisplay() const;
     DrmBackend *platform() const;
     /**