diff --git a/include/spdk/vhost.h b/include/spdk/vhost.h
index 5cfe14a54..02296e2d7 100644
--- a/include/spdk/vhost.h
+++ b/include/spdk/vhost.h
@@ -49,8 +49,13 @@ extern "C" {
 #endif
 
 /**
- * Callback funcion for spdk_vhost_fini().
+ * Callback for spdk_vhost_init().
+ *
+ * \param rc 0 on success, negative errno on failure
  */
+typedef void (*spdk_vhost_init_cb)(int rc);
+
+/** Callback for spdk_vhost_fini(). */
 typedef void (*spdk_vhost_fini_cb)(void);
 
 /**
@@ -67,14 +72,14 @@ int spdk_vhost_set_socket_path(const char *basename);
 /**
  * Init vhost environment.
  *
- * \return 0 on success, -1 on failure.
+ * \param init_cb Function to be called when the initialization is complete.
  */
-int spdk_vhost_init(void);
+void spdk_vhost_init(spdk_vhost_init_cb init_cb);
 
 /**
- * Clean up the environment of vhost after finishing the vhost application.
+ * Clean up the environment of vhost.
  *
- * \param fini_cb Called when the cleanup operation completes.
+ * \param fini_cb Function to be called when the cleanup is complete.
  */
 void spdk_vhost_fini(spdk_vhost_fini_cb fini_cb);
 
diff --git a/lib/event/subsystems/vhost/vhost.c b/lib/event/subsystems/vhost/vhost.c
index 1fdbc6aa5..a3d2c588f 100644
--- a/lib/event/subsystems/vhost/vhost.c
+++ b/lib/event/subsystems/vhost/vhost.c
@@ -37,14 +37,16 @@
 
 #include "spdk_internal/event.h"
 
+static void
+spdk_vhost_subsystem_init_done(int rc)
+{
+	spdk_subsystem_init_next(rc);
+}
+
 static void
 spdk_vhost_subsystem_init(void)
 {
-	int rc = 0;
-
-	rc = spdk_vhost_init();
-
-	spdk_subsystem_init_next(rc);
+	spdk_vhost_init(spdk_vhost_subsystem_init_done);
 }
 
 static void
diff --git a/lib/vhost/vhost.c b/lib/vhost/vhost.c
index bdf835978..3ecf9f172 100644
--- a/lib/vhost/vhost.c
+++ b/lib/vhost/vhost.c
@@ -1433,8 +1433,8 @@ spdk_vhost_unlock(void)
 	pthread_mutex_unlock(&g_spdk_vhost_mutex);
 }
 
-int
-spdk_vhost_init(void)
+void
+spdk_vhost_init(spdk_vhost_init_cb init_cb)
 {
 	uint32_t last_core;
 	size_t len;
@@ -1443,7 +1443,8 @@ spdk_vhost_init(void)
 	if (dev_dirname[0] == '\0') {
 		if (getcwd(dev_dirname, sizeof(dev_dirname) - 1) == NULL) {
 			SPDK_ERRLOG("getcwd failed (%d): %s\n", errno, spdk_strerror(errno));
-			return -1;
+			ret = -1;
+			goto out;
 		}
 
 		len = strlen(dev_dirname);
@@ -1458,30 +1459,36 @@ spdk_vhost_init(void)
 	if (!g_num_ctrlrs) {
 		SPDK_ERRLOG("Could not allocate array size=%u for g_num_ctrlrs\n",
 			    last_core + 1);
-		return -1;
+		ret = -1;
+		goto out;
 	}
 
 	ret = spdk_vhost_scsi_controller_construct();
 	if (ret != 0) {
 		SPDK_ERRLOG("Cannot construct vhost controllers\n");
-		return -1;
+		ret = -1;
+		goto out;
 	}
 
 	ret = spdk_vhost_blk_controller_construct();
 	if (ret != 0) {
 		SPDK_ERRLOG("Cannot construct vhost block controllers\n");
-		return -1;
+		ret = -1;
+		goto out;
 	}
 
 #ifdef SPDK_CONFIG_VHOST_INTERNAL_LIB
 	ret = spdk_vhost_nvme_controller_construct();
 	if (ret != 0) {
 		SPDK_ERRLOG("Cannot construct vhost NVMe controllers\n");
-		return -1;
+		ret = -1;
+		goto out;
 	}
 #endif
 
-	return 0;
+	ret = 0;
+out:
+	init_cb(ret);
 }
 
 static void