diff --git a/scripts/qemu-boot.sh b/scripts/qemu-boot.sh
index 368faae3..5f64a225 100644
--- a/scripts/qemu-boot.sh
+++ b/scripts/qemu-boot.sh
@@ -146,7 +146,7 @@ boot()
 myname=`basename $0`
 log_delim="==========================="
 log running $0 $@
-[ -x $0 ] || fatal "$0 is not executable"
+[ -x $0 ] || chmod u+x $0 || fatal "$0 is not executable"
 exe=`readlink -f $0`
 dirname=`dirname $exe`
 bridge=priv0