diff --git a/lib/utils/qemu.js b/lib/utils/qemu.js
index 642cd27a..08b8d5d4 100644
--- a/lib/utils/qemu.js
+++ b/lib/utils/qemu.js
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@
 
 import * as Promise from 'bluebird';
 import { getBalenaSdk } from './lazy';
-export const QEMU_VERSION = 'v4.0.0-balena';
+export const QEMU_VERSION = 'v4.0.0+balena2';
 export const QEMU_BIN_NAME = 'qemu-execve';
 
 export function qemuPathInContext(context) {
@@ -84,11 +84,12 @@ export function installQemu(arch) {
 				const installStream = fs.createWriteStream(qemuPath);
 
 				const qemuArch = balenaArchToQemuArch(arch);
-				const downloadArchiveName = `qemu-${QEMU_VERSION.replace(
-					/^v/,
-					'',
-				)}-${qemuArch}.tar.gz`;
-				const qemuUrl = `https://github.com/balena-io/qemu/releases/download/${QEMU_VERSION}/${downloadArchiveName}`;
+				const fileVersion = QEMU_VERSION.replace(/^v/, '').replace('+', '.');
+				const urlFile = encodeURIComponent(
+					`qemu-${fileVersion}-${qemuArch}.tar.gz`,
+				);
+				const urlVersion = encodeURIComponent(QEMU_VERSION);
+				const qemuUrl = `https://github.com/balena-io/qemu/releases/download/${urlVersion}/${urlFile}`;
 
 				const extract = tar.extract();
 				extract.on('entry', function(header, stream, next) {