diff --git a/gnu/system/examples/bare-hurd64.tmpl b/gnu/system/examples/bare-hurd64.tmpl
index 44e29594664..6e664c46cdb 100644
--- a/gnu/system/examples/bare-hurd64.tmpl
+++ b/gnu/system/examples/bare-hurd64.tmpl
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@
 ;;
 ;; You may run it like so:
 ;;
-;;     guix shell qemu -- qemu-system-x86_64 -m 2048              \
+;;     guix shell qemu -- qemu-system-x86_64 -m 2048 -M q35       \
 ;;       --enable-kvm                                             \
 ;;       --device e1000,netdev=net0                               \
 ;;       --netdev user,id=net0,hostfwd=tcp:127.0.0.1:10022-:2222  \
diff --git a/gnu/system/examples/devel-hurd64.tmpl b/gnu/system/examples/devel-hurd64.tmpl
index e3caf75e6b5..6c81643565a 100644
--- a/gnu/system/examples/devel-hurd64.tmpl
+++ b/gnu/system/examples/devel-hurd64.tmpl
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@
 ;; You may run it like so:
 ;;
 ;;     cp /gnu/store/.../disk-image devel-hurd.img
-;;     guix shell qemu -- qemu-system-x86_64 -m 4096              \
+;;     guix shell qemu -- qemu-system-x86_64 -m 4096 -M q35       \
 ;;       --enable-kvm                                             \
 ;;       --device e1000,netdev=net0                               \
 ;;       --netdev user,id=net0,hostfwd=tcp:127.0.0.1:10022-:2222  \