diff --git a/client/driver/qemu.go b/client/driver/qemu.go
index 90b9aa19fc6..abf6d4dfa29 100644
--- a/client/driver/qemu.go
+++ b/client/driver/qemu.go
@@ -15,7 +15,6 @@ import (
 	"runtime"
 	"strconv"
 	"strings"
-	"syscall"
 	"time"
 
 	"github.com/hashicorp/go-getter"
@@ -25,7 +24,7 @@ import (
 )
 
 var (
-	reQemuVersion = regexp.MustCompile("QEMU emulator version ([\\d\\.]+).+")
+	reQemuVersion = regexp.MustCompile(`version (\d[\.\d+]+)`)
 )
 
 // QemuDriver is a driver for running images via Qemu
@@ -56,13 +55,13 @@ func NewQemuDriver(ctx *DriverContext) Driver {
 }
 
 func (d *QemuDriver) Fingerprint(cfg *config.Config, node *structs.Node) (bool, error) {
-	// Only enable if we are root when running on non-windows systems.
-	if runtime.GOOS != "windows" && syscall.Geteuid() != 0 {
-		d.logger.Printf("[DEBUG] driver.qemu: must run as root user, disabling")
-		return false, nil
+	bin := "qemu-system-x86_64"
+	if runtime.GOOS == "windows" {
+		// On windows, the "qemu-system-x86_64" command does not respond to the
+		// version flag.
+		bin = "qemu-img"
 	}
-
-	outBytes, err := exec.Command("qemu-system-x86_64", "-version").Output()
+	outBytes, err := exec.Command(bin, "--version").Output()
 	if err != nil {
 		return false, nil
 	}
diff --git a/client/testutil/driver_compatible.go b/client/testutil/driver_compatible.go
index df1d27d1157..d73d62f33df 100644
--- a/client/testutil/driver_compatible.go
+++ b/client/testutil/driver_compatible.go
@@ -14,11 +14,12 @@ func ExecCompatible(t *testing.T) {
 }
 
 func QemuCompatible(t *testing.T) {
+	// Check if qemu exists
+	bin := "qemu-system-x86_64"
 	if runtime.GOOS == "windows" {
-		t.Skip("Must be on non-windows environments to run test")
+		bin = "qemu-img"
 	}
-	// else see if qemu exists
-	_, err := exec.Command("qemu-system-x86_64", "-version").CombinedOutput()
+	_, err := exec.Command(bin, "--version").CombinedOutput()
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Skip("Must have Qemu installed for Qemu specific tests to run")
 	}