diff --git a/appliance/init b/appliance/init
index 3816dfd83..d44000720 100755
--- a/appliance/init
+++ b/appliance/init
@@ -131,7 +131,6 @@ mdadm -As --auto=yes --run
 
 # Scan for LVM.
 modprobe dm_mod ||:
-lvmetad ||:
 
 lvm vgchange -aay --sysinit
 
diff --git a/daemon/daemon.h b/daemon/daemon.h
index 771698156..9fb047239 100644
--- a/daemon/daemon.h
+++ b/daemon/daemon.h
@@ -189,6 +189,7 @@ extern int lv_canonical (const char *device, char **ret);
 
 /*-- in lvm-filter.c --*/
 extern void copy_lvm (void);
+extern void start_lvmetad (void);
 
 /*-- in zero.c --*/
 extern void wipe_device_before_mkfs (const char *device);
diff --git a/daemon/guestfsd.c b/daemon/guestfsd.c
index bd3f7de7c..b343d7e4d 100644
--- a/daemon/guestfsd.c
+++ b/daemon/guestfsd.c
@@ -274,8 +274,10 @@ main (int argc, char *argv[])
   /* Make a private copy of /etc/lvm so we can change the config (see
    * daemon/lvm-filter.c).
    */
-  if (!test_mode)
+  if (!test_mode) {
     copy_lvm ();
+    start_lvmetad ();
+  }
 
   /* Connect to virtio-serial channel. */
   if (!channel)
diff --git a/daemon/lvm-filter.c b/daemon/lvm-filter.c
index 8629aab34..d53d64b32 100644
--- a/daemon/lvm-filter.c
+++ b/daemon/lvm-filter.c
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@
 GUESTFSD_EXT_CMD(str_lvm, lvm);
 GUESTFSD_EXT_CMD(str_cp, cp);
 GUESTFSD_EXT_CMD(str_rm, rm);
+GUESTFSD_EXT_CMD(str_lvmetad, lvmetad);
 
 /* This runs during daemon start up and creates a complete copy of
  * /etc/lvm so that we can modify it as we desire.  We set
@@ -101,6 +102,23 @@ copy_lvm (void)
   atexit (rm_lvm_system_dir);
 }
 
+/* Try to run lvmetad, without failing if it couldn't. */
+void
+start_lvmetad (void)
+{
+  char cmd[64];
+  int r;
+
+  snprintf (cmd, sizeof cmd, "%s", str_lvmetad);
+  if (verbose)
+    printf ("%s\n", cmd);
+  r = system (cmd);
+  if (r == -1)
+    perror ("system/lvmetad");
+  else if (!WIFEXITED (r) || WEXITSTATUS (r) != 0)
+    fprintf (stderr, "warning: lvmetad command failed\n");
+}
+
 static void
 rm_lvm_system_dir (void)
 {
@@ -247,7 +265,7 @@ rescan (void)
   unlink (lvm_cache);
 
   CLEANUP_FREE char *err = NULL;
-  int r = command (NULL, &err, str_lvm, "vgscan", NULL);
+  int r = command (NULL, &err, str_lvm, "vgscan", "--cache", NULL);
   if (r == -1) {
     reply_with_error ("vgscan: %s", err);
     return -1;
diff --git a/daemon/lvm.c b/daemon/lvm.c
index d4909adfb..e21f7c1d7 100644
--- a/daemon/lvm.c
+++ b/daemon/lvm.c
@@ -794,7 +794,7 @@ do_vgscan (void)
   int r;
 
   r = command (NULL, &err,
-               str_lvm, "vgscan", NULL);
+               str_lvm, "vgscan", "--cache", NULL);
   if (r == -1) {
     reply_with_error ("%s", err);
     return -1;