diff --git a/SOURCES/0001-EL9-qemu-paths-and-svirt-xml-attr.patch b/SOURCES/0001-EL9-qemu-paths-and-svirt-xml-attr.patch
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c3b538c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/SOURCES/0001-EL9-qemu-paths-and-svirt-xml-attr.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,49 @@
+--- a/backend/qemu.pm	2026-07-21 18:30:16.779003040 +0200
++++ b/backend/qemu.pm	2026-07-21 18:30:16.785002994 +0200
+@@ -696,6 +696,8 @@
+     unless ($qemubin) {
+         if ($vars->{QEMU}) {
+             $qemubin = find_bin('/usr/bin/', 'qemu-system-' . $vars->{QEMU});
++            # AlmaLinux/EL9: RHEL ships qemu only as /usr/libexec/qemu-kvm
++            $qemubin ||= find_bin('/usr/libexec/', 'qemu-kvm');
+         }
+         else {
+             (my $class = $vars->{WORKER_CLASS} || '') =~ s/qemu_/qemu-system\-/g;
+@@ -729,7 +731,7 @@
+     foreach my $attribute (qw(KERNEL INITRD)) {
+         if ($vars->{$attribute} && $vars->{$attribute} !~ /^\//) {
+             # Non-absolute paths are assumed relative to /usr/share/qemu
+-            $vars->{$attribute} = '/usr/share/qemu/' . $vars->{$attribute};
++            $vars->{$attribute} = '/usr/share/qemu-kvm/' . $vars->{$attribute};
+         }
+         if ($vars->{$attribute} && !-e $vars->{$attribute}) {
+             die "'$vars->{$attribute}' missing, check $attribute\n";
+@@ -985,7 +987,7 @@
+             die "Need variable WORKER_HOSTNAME\n" unless $vars->{WORKER_HOSTNAME};
+             my $ipxe_binary = $vars->{UEFI} ? 'ipxe-x86_64.efi' : 'ipxe.lkrn';
+             my $ipxe_binary_path = "/usr/share/ipxe/$ipxe_binary";
+-            sp('kernel', -e $ipxe_binary_path ? $ipxe_binary_path : "/usr/share/qemu/$ipxe_binary");
++            sp('kernel', -e $ipxe_binary_path ? $ipxe_binary_path : "/usr/share/qemu-kvm/$ipxe_binary");
+             my $worker_ip = inet_ntoa(inet_aton($vars->{WORKER_HOSTNAME}));
+             die "Unable to determine worker IP from WORKER_HOSTNAME\n" unless $worker_ip;
+             sp('append', "dhcp && sanhook iscsi:${worker_ip}::3260:1:$vars->{NBF}", no_quotes => 1);
+--- a/consoles/sshVirtsh.pm	2026-06-01 18:40:12.000000000 +0200
++++ b/consoles/sshVirtsh.pm	2026-07-21 18:40:07.631435129 +0200
+@@ -210,7 +210,7 @@
+     if ($args->{target_type}) {
+         $elem->setAttribute(type => $args->{target_type});
+     }
+-    $elem->setAttribute(port => $args->{target_port});
++    $elem->setAttribute(port => $args->{target_port} // q{});
+     $console->appendChild($elem);
+ 
+     if ($args->{protocol_type}) {
+@@ -285,7 +285,7 @@
+ 
+     my $type = delete $args->{type};
+     my $interface = $doc->createElement('interface');
+-    $interface->setAttribute(type => $type);
++    $interface->setAttribute(type => $type // q{});
+     $devices->appendChild($interface);
+ 
+     for my $key (keys %$args) {
diff --git a/SPECS/os-autoinst.spec b/SPECS/os-autoinst.spec
index f9f62ce..17cfc99 100644
--- a/SPECS/os-autoinst.spec
+++ b/SPECS/os-autoinst.spec
@@ -52,6 +52,11 @@ Patch:          0001-fix-test-use-linuxboot_dma.bin-in-18-backend-qemu.t.patch
 # off (avoids the SLOF once=d trap), add BOOTFROM=d one-shot CD boot opt-in,
 # and skip audio which EL9 ppc64le QEMU has no device model for.
 Patch:          0001-Add-ppc64le-support-to-QEMU-backend.patch
+# AlmaLinux/EL9: RHEL ships qemu only as /usr/libexec/qemu-kvm and its data
+# under /usr/share/qemu-kvm (not /usr/share/qemu); and EL9's XML::LibXML warns
+# on setAttribute(attr => undef). Fix the qemu binary/datadir lookup and the
+# svirt domain-XML attribute handling.
+Patch:          0001-EL9-qemu-paths-and-svirt-xml-attr.patch
 
 # on SUSE this is conditional, for us it doesn't have to be but we
 # still use a macro just to keep build_requires similar for ease of
@@ -119,6 +124,9 @@ Patch:          0001-Add-ppc64le-support-to-QEMU-backend.patch
 BuildRequires:  perl-devel
 BuildRequires:  perl-generators
 BuildRequires:  systemd
+# AlmaLinux/EL9: the full-stack and isotovideo tests need the en_US.UTF-8
+# locale; on a minimal buildroot it is only present via glibc-langpack-en.
+BuildRequires:  glibc-langpack-en
 %if 0%{?no_fullstack}
 %else
 BuildRequires:  perl(Mojo::File)