diff --git a/board/qemu/post-image.sh b/board/qemu/post-image.sh
index 88f0413496..57306dd546 100755
--- a/board/qemu/post-image.sh
+++ b/board/qemu/post-image.sh
@@ -41,21 +41,10 @@ case ${DEFCONFIG_NAME} in
     ;;
 esac
 
-cat <<-_EOF_ > "${START_QEMU_SCRIPT}"
-	#!/bin/sh
-	(
-	BINARIES_DIR="\${0%/*}/"
-	cd \${BINARIES_DIR}
-
-	if [ "\${1}" = "serial-only" ]; then
-	    EXTRA_ARGS='${SERIAL_ARGS}'
-	else
-	    EXTRA_ARGS='${DEFAULT_ARGS}'
-	fi
-
-	export PATH="${HOST_DIR}/bin:\${PATH}"
-	exec ${QEMU_CMD_LINE} \${EXTRA_ARGS}
-	)
-_EOF_
-
+sed "s|@SERIAL_ARGS@|${SERIAL_ARGS}|g" \
+    "s|@DEFAULT_ARGS@|${DEFAULT_ARGS}|g" \
+    "s|@QEMU_CMD_LINE@|${QEMU_CMD_LINE}|g" \
+    "s|@HOST_DIR@|${HOST_DIR}|g" \
+    <"${QEMU_BOARD_DIR}/start-qemu.sh.in" \
+    >"${START_QEMU_SCRIPT}"
 chmod +x "${START_QEMU_SCRIPT}"
diff --git a/board/qemu/start-qemu.sh.in b/board/qemu/start-qemu.sh.in
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..4dc9bfbb0d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/board/qemu/start-qemu.sh.in
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+
+BINARIES_DIR="${0%/*}/"
+# shellcheck disable=SC2164
+cd "${BINARIES_DIR}"
+
+if [ "${1}" = "serial-only" ]; then
+    EXTRA_ARGS='@SERIAL_ARGS@'
+else
+    EXTRA_ARGS='@DEFAULT_ARGS@'
+fi
+
+export PATH="@HOST_DIR@/bin:${PATH}"
+exec @QEMU_CMD_LINE@ ${EXTRA_ARGS}