diff --git a/poky/meta/conf/machine/include/qemu.inc b/poky/meta/conf/machine/include/qemu.inc
index aa332fe..5050e41 100644
--- a/poky/meta/conf/machine/include/qemu.inc
+++ b/poky/meta/conf/machine/include/qemu.inc
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@
 RDEPENDS_${KERNEL_PACKAGE_NAME}-base = ""
 
 # Use a common kernel recipe for all QEMU machines
-PREFERRED_PROVIDER_virtual/kernel ?= "linux-yocto"
+PREFERRED_PROVIDER_virtual/kernel ??= "linux-yocto"
 
 EXTRA_IMAGEDEPENDS += "qemu-native qemu-helper-native"