diff --git a/scripts/qmp/qom-fuse b/scripts/qmp/qom-fuse
index 703a97e75f..0d11f73152 100755
--- a/scripts/qmp/qom-fuse
+++ b/scripts/qmp/qom-fuse
@@ -127,19 +127,19 @@ class QOMFuse(QOMCommand, Operations):
 
     def read(self, path, size, offset, fh):
         if not self.is_property(path):
-            return -ENOENT
+            raise FuseOSError(ENOENT)
 
         path, prop = path.rsplit('/', 1)
         if path == '':
             path = '/'
         try:
-            data = self.qmp.command('qom-get', path=path, property=prop)
+            data = str(self.qmp.command('qom-get', path=path, property=prop))
             data += '\n'  # make values shell friendly
         except QMPResponseError as err:
             raise FuseOSError(EPERM) from err
 
         if offset > len(data):
-            return ''
+            return b''
 
         return bytes(data[offset:][:size], encoding='utf-8')