diff --git a/cinder/image/image_utils.py b/cinder/image/image_utils.py
index 032919595f6..dbfb7232c80 100644
--- a/cinder/image/image_utils.py
+++ b/cinder/image/image_utils.py
@@ -36,9 +36,10 @@ from oslo.config import cfg
 from cinder import exception
 from cinder.openstack.common import fileutils
 from cinder.openstack.common import log as logging
+from cinder.openstack.common import processutils
 from cinder.openstack.common import strutils
 from cinder import utils
-
+from cinder.volume import utils as volume_utils
 
 LOG = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
@@ -254,16 +255,55 @@ def fetch_to_volume_format(context, image_service,
             os.path.exists(CONF.image_conversion_dir)):
         os.makedirs(CONF.image_conversion_dir)
 
+    no_qemu_img = False
+    image_meta = image_service.show(context, image_id)
+
     # NOTE(avishay): I'm not crazy about creating temp files which may be
     # large and cause disk full errors which would confuse users.
     # Unfortunately it seems that you can't pipe to 'qemu-img convert' because
     # it seeks. Maybe we can think of something for a future version.
     with temporary_file() as tmp:
+        # We may be on a system that doesn't have qemu-img installed.  That
+        # is ok if we are working with a RAW image.  This logic checks to see
+        # if qemu-img is installed.  If not we make sure the image is RAW and
+        # throw an exception if not.  Otherwise we stop before needing
+        # qemu-img.  Systems with qemu-img will always progress through the
+        # whole function.
+        try:
+            # Use the empty tmp file to make sure qemu_img_info works.
+            qemu_img_info(tmp)
+        except processutils.ProcessExecutionError:
+            no_qemu_img = True
+            if image_meta:
+                if image_meta['disk_format'] != 'raw':
+                    raise exception.ImageUnacceptable(
+                        reason=_("qemu-img is not installed and image is of "
+                                 "type %s.  Only RAW images can be used if "
+                                 "qemu-img is not installed.") %
+                        image_meta['disk_format'],
+                        image_id=image_id)
+            else:
+                raise exception.ImageUnacceptable(
+                    reason=_("qemu-img is not installed and the disk "
+                             "format is not specified.  Only RAW images "
+                             "can be used if qemu-img is not installed."),
+                    image_id=image_id)
+
         fetch(context, image_service, image_id, tmp, user_id, project_id)
 
         if is_xenserver_image(context, image_service, image_id):
             replace_xenserver_image_with_coalesced_vhd(tmp)
 
+        if no_qemu_img:
+            # qemu-img is not installed but we do have a RAW image.  As a
+            # result we only need to copy the image to the destination and then
+            # return.
+            LOG.debug(_('Copying image from %(tmp)s to volume %(dest)s - '
+                        'size: %(size)s') % {'tmp': tmp, 'dest': dest,
+                                             'size': image_meta['size']})
+            volume_utils.copy_volume(tmp, dest, image_meta['size'])
+            return
+
         data = qemu_img_info(tmp)
         fmt = data.file_format
         if fmt is None:
diff --git a/cinder/tests/test_image_utils.py b/cinder/tests/test_image_utils.py
index a6f7a11e3e9..fd1d29b9c4c 100644
--- a/cinder/tests/test_image_utils.py
+++ b/cinder/tests/test_image_utils.py
@@ -165,6 +165,12 @@ class TestUtils(test.TestCase):
                 (TEST_RET, 'ignored')
             )
 
+        utils.execute(
+            'env', 'LC_ALL=C', 'LANG=C', 'qemu-img', 'info',
+            self.TEST_DEV_PATH, run_as_root=True).AndReturn(
+                (TEST_RET, 'ignored')
+            )
+
         utils.execute('qemu-img', 'convert', '-O', 'raw',
                       self.TEST_DEV_PATH, self.TEST_DEV_PATH, run_as_root=True)
 
@@ -203,6 +209,12 @@ class TestUtils(test.TestCase):
                 (TEST_RET, 'ignored')
             )
 
+        utils.execute(
+            'env', 'LC_ALL=C', 'LANG=C', 'qemu-img', 'info',
+            self.TEST_DEV_PATH, run_as_root=True).AndReturn(
+                (TEST_RET, 'ignored')
+            )
+
         mox.ReplayAll()
 
         self.assertRaises(exception.ImageUnacceptable,
@@ -235,6 +247,12 @@ class TestUtils(test.TestCase):
                 (TEST_RET, 'ignored')
             )
 
+        utils.execute(
+            'env', 'LC_ALL=C', 'LANG=C', 'qemu-img', 'info',
+            self.TEST_DEV_PATH, run_as_root=True).AndReturn(
+                (TEST_RET, 'ignored')
+            )
+
         mox.ReplayAll()
         self.assertRaises(exception.ImageUnacceptable,
                           image_utils.fetch_to_raw,
@@ -265,6 +283,12 @@ class TestUtils(test.TestCase):
                 (TEST_RET, 'ignored')
             )
 
+        utils.execute(
+            'env', 'LC_ALL=C', 'LANG=C', 'qemu-img', 'info',
+            self.TEST_DEV_PATH, run_as_root=True).AndReturn(
+                (TEST_RET, 'ignored')
+            )
+
         utils.execute('qemu-img', 'convert', '-O', 'raw',
                       self.TEST_DEV_PATH, self.TEST_DEV_PATH, run_as_root=True)