diff --git a/nova/tests/virt/disk/vfs/fakeguestfs.py b/nova/tests/virt/disk/vfs/fakeguestfs.py
index 0bcfd41c4c3f..5e5efa7a14fc 100644
--- a/nova/tests/virt/disk/vfs/fakeguestfs.py
+++ b/nova/tests/virt/disk/vfs/fakeguestfs.py
@@ -13,6 +13,12 @@
 #    under the License.
 
 
+EVENT_APPLIANCE = 0x1
+EVENT_LIBRARY = 0x2
+EVENT_WARNING = 0x3
+EVENT_TRACE = 0x4
+
+
 class GuestFS(object):
     SUPPORT_CLOSE_ON_EXIT = True
     SUPPORT_RETURN_DICT = True
@@ -33,6 +39,9 @@ class GuestFS(object):
         self.auginit = False
         self.root_mounted = False
         self.backend_settings = None
+        self.trace_enabled = False
+        self.verbose_enabled = False
+        self.event_callback = None
 
     def launch(self):
         self.running = True
@@ -168,3 +177,12 @@ class GuestFS(object):
         elif cfgpath == "/files/etc/group/admins/gid":
             return 600
         raise RuntimeError("Unknown path %s", cfgpath)
+
+    def set_trace(self, enabled):
+        self.trace_enabled = enabled
+
+    def set_verbose(self, enabled):
+        self.verbose_enabled = enabled
+
+    def set_event_callback(self, func, events):
+        self.event_callback = (func, events)
diff --git a/nova/tests/virt/disk/vfs/test_guestfs.py b/nova/tests/virt/disk/vfs/test_guestfs.py
index 66f8206b8de1..cf954e9a35e0 100644
--- a/nova/tests/virt/disk/vfs/test_guestfs.py
+++ b/nova/tests/virt/disk/vfs/test_guestfs.py
@@ -247,3 +247,18 @@ class VirtDiskVFSGuestFSTest(test.NoDBTestCase):
         vfs.setup()
         self.assertNotIn('python_return_dict', vfs.handle.kwargs)
         vfs.teardown()
+
+    def test_setup_debug_disable(self):
+        vfs = vfsimpl.VFSGuestFS(imgfile="/dummy.qcow2", imgfmt="qcow2")
+        vfs.setup()
+        self.assertFalse(vfs.handle.trace_enabled)
+        self.assertFalse(vfs.handle.verbose_enabled)
+        self.assertIsNone(vfs.handle.event_callback)
+
+    def test_setup_debug_enabled(self):
+        self.flags(debug=True, group='guestfs')
+        vfs = vfsimpl.VFSGuestFS(imgfile="/dummy.qcow2", imgfmt="qcow2")
+        vfs.setup()
+        self.assertTrue(vfs.handle.trace_enabled)
+        self.assertTrue(vfs.handle.verbose_enabled)
+        self.assertIsNotNone(vfs.handle.event_callback)
diff --git a/nova/virt/disk/vfs/guestfs.py b/nova/virt/disk/vfs/guestfs.py
index 216b1610b9d6..9bbf69910b91 100644
--- a/nova/virt/disk/vfs/guestfs.py
+++ b/nova/virt/disk/vfs/guestfs.py
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@
 # under the License.
 
 from eventlet import tpool
+from oslo.config import cfg
 from oslo.utils import importutils
 import six
 
@@ -28,6 +29,15 @@ LOG = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 guestfs = None
 forceTCG = False
 
+guestfs_opts = [
+    cfg.BoolOpt('debug',
+                default=False,
+                help='Enable guestfs debug')
+]
+
+CONF = cfg.CONF
+CONF.register_opts(guestfs_opts, group='guestfs')
+
 
 def force_tcg(force=True):
     """Prevent libguestfs trying to use KVM acceleration
@@ -72,6 +82,27 @@ class VFSGuestFS(vfs.VFS):
 
         return self
 
+    def configure_debug(self):
+        """Configures guestfs to be verbose."""
+        if not self.handle:
+            LOG.warning(_LW("Please consider to execute setup before trying "
+                            "to configure debug log message."))
+        else:
+            def log_callback(ev, eh, buf, array):
+                if ev == guestfs.EVENT_APPLIANCE:
+                    buf = buf.rstrip()
+                LOG.debug("event=%(event)s eh=%(eh)d buf='%(buf)s' "
+                          "array=%(array)s", {
+                              "event": guestfs.event_to_string(ev),
+                              "eh": eh, "buf": buf, "array": array})
+
+            events = (guestfs.EVENT_APPLIANCE | guestfs.EVENT_LIBRARY
+                      | guestfs.EVENT_WARNING | guestfs.EVENT_TRACE)
+
+            self.handle.set_trace(True)  # just traces libguestfs API calls
+            self.handle.set_verbose(True)
+            self.handle.set_event_callback(log_callback, events)
+
     def setup_os(self):
         if self.partition == -1:
             self.setup_os_inspect()
@@ -149,6 +180,9 @@ class VFSGuestFS(vfs.VFS):
             else:
                 raise
 
+        if CONF.guestfs.debug:
+            self.configure_debug()
+
         try:
             if forceTCG:
                 self.handle.set_backend_settings("force_tcg")