diff --git a/lib/libbhyve/pci.c b/lib/libbhyve/pci.c
--- a/lib/libbhyve/pci.c
+++ b/lib/libbhyve/pci.c
@@ -135,4 +135,13 @@
 	.legacy_config = netbe_legacy_config,
 	.validate_hotplug_request = netbe_validate_hotplug_request
 };
+
+static struct devinfo virtio_net_info = {
+	.name = "virtio-net",
+	.init_fds = netbe_init_fds,
+	.legacy_config = netbe_legacy_config,
+	.validate_hotplug_request = netbe_validate_hotplug_request
+};
+
 DATA_SET(pci_devinfo, e1000_info);
+DATA_SET(pci_devinfo, virtio_net_info);
diff --git a/usr.sbin/bhyve/bhyve.8 b/usr.sbin/bhyve/bhyve.8
--- a/usr.sbin/bhyve/bhyve.8
+++ b/usr.sbin/bhyve/bhyve.8
@@ -518,6 +518,8 @@
 .Bl -bullet
 .It
 e1000
+.It
+virtio-net
 .El
 .Ss Network device backends
 .Sm off
diff --git a/usr.sbin/bhyve/pci_virtio_net.c b/usr.sbin/bhyve/pci_virtio_net.c
--- a/usr.sbin/bhyve/pci_virtio_net.c
+++ b/usr.sbin/bhyve/pci_virtio_net.c
@@ -586,6 +586,8 @@
 	if (value != NULL) {
 		err = net_parsemac(value, sc->vsc_config.mac);
 		if (err) {
+			nvlist_add_string(nvl, "error",
+			    "failed to parse MAC address");
 			free(sc);
 			return (err);
 		}
@@ -596,6 +598,7 @@
 	if (value != NULL) {
 		err = net_parsemtu(value, &mtu);
 		if (err) {
+			nvlist_add_string(nvl, "error", "failed to parse MTU");
 			free(sc);
 			return (err);
 		}
@@ -603,6 +606,7 @@
 		if (mtu < VTNET_MIN_MTU || mtu > VTNET_MAX_MTU) {
 			err = EINVAL;
 			errno = EINVAL;
+			nvlist_add_string(nvl, "error", "invalid MTU value");
 			free(sc);
 			return (err);
 		}
@@ -643,6 +647,7 @@
 
 	/* use BAR 1 to map MSI-X table and PBA, if we're using MSI-X */
 	if (vi_intr_init(&sc->vsc_vs, 1, fbsdrun_virtio_msix())) {
+		nvlist_add_string(nvl, "error", "failed to setup interrupts");
 		free(sc);
 		return (1);
 	}
@@ -672,6 +677,27 @@
 	return (0);
 }
 
+static int
+pci_vtnet_teardown(struct pci_devinst *pi)
+{
+	struct pci_vtnet_softc *sc;
+
+	sc = pi->pi_arg;
+
+	pthread_cancel(sc->tx_tid);
+	pthread_join(sc->tx_tid, NULL);
+	pthread_cond_destroy(&sc->tx_cond);
+	pthread_mutex_destroy(&sc->tx_mtx);
+	pthread_mutex_destroy(&sc->rx_mtx);
+	pthread_mutex_destroy(&sc->vsc_mtx);
+
+	if (sc->vsc_be != NULL)
+		netbe_cleanup(sc->vsc_be);
+	free(sc);
+
+	return (0);
+}
+
 static int
 pci_vtnet_cfgwrite(void *vsc, int offset, int size, uint32_t value)
 {
@@ -803,6 +829,7 @@
 static const struct pci_devemu pci_de_vnet = {
 	.pe_emu = 	"virtio-net",
 	.pe_init =	pci_vtnet_init,
+	.pe_teardown =	pci_vtnet_teardown,
 	.pe_legacy_config = netbe_legacy_config,
 	.pe_barwrite =	vi_pci_write,
 	.pe_barread =	vi_pci_read,