diff --git a/gns3server/compute/base_manager.py b/gns3server/compute/base_manager.py
index 40e2c007..a96fe2e7 100644
--- a/gns3server/compute/base_manager.py
+++ b/gns3server/compute/base_manager.py
@@ -506,7 +506,7 @@ class BaseManager:
         """
 
         try:
-            return list_images(self._NODE_TYPE)
+            return await list_images(self._NODE_TYPE)
         except OSError as e:
             raise ComputeError(f"Can not list images {e}")
 
diff --git a/gns3server/core/tasks.py b/gns3server/core/tasks.py
index 85df5791..3bef5774 100644
--- a/gns3server/core/tasks.py
+++ b/gns3server/core/tasks.py
@@ -15,7 +15,6 @@
 # You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
 # along with this program.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
 
-import sys
 import asyncio
 
 from typing import Callable
@@ -25,7 +24,7 @@ from gns3server.controller import Controller
 from gns3server.compute import MODULES
 from gns3server.compute.port_manager import PortManager
 from gns3server.utils.http_client import HTTPClient
-from gns3server.db.tasks import connect_to_db, get_computes
+from gns3server.db.tasks import connect_to_db, get_computes, discover_images_on_filesystem
 
 import logging
 
@@ -60,7 +59,9 @@ def create_startup_handler(app: FastAPI) -> Callable:
         # computing with server start
         from gns3server.compute.qemu import Qemu
 
-        asyncio.ensure_future(Qemu.instance().list_images())
+        # Start the discovering new images on file system 5 seconds after the server has started
+        # to give it a chance to process API requests
+        loop.call_later(5, asyncio.create_task, discover_images_on_filesystem(app))
 
         for module in MODULES:
             log.debug(f"Loading module {module.__name__}")
diff --git a/gns3server/db/tasks.py b/gns3server/db/tasks.py
index 7c40a6fb..7f89459e 100644
--- a/gns3server/db/tasks.py
+++ b/gns3server/db/tasks.py
@@ -15,11 +15,13 @@
 # You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
 # along with this program.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
 
+import asyncio
+import signal
 import os
 
 from fastapi import FastAPI
-from fastapi.encoders import jsonable_encoder
 from pydantic import ValidationError
+from watchfiles import awatch, Change
 
 from typing import List
 from sqlalchemy import event
@@ -27,6 +29,8 @@ from sqlalchemy.engine import Engine
 from sqlalchemy.exc import SQLAlchemyError
 from sqlalchemy.ext.asyncio import create_async_engine, AsyncSession
 from gns3server.db.repositories.computes import ComputesRepository
+from gns3server.db.repositories.images import ImagesRepository
+from gns3server.utils.images import discover_images, check_valid_image_header, read_image_info, InvalidImageError
 from gns3server import schemas
 
 from .models import Base
@@ -74,3 +78,94 @@ async def get_computes(app: FastAPI) -> List[dict]:
                 continue
             computes.append(compute)
     return computes
+
+
+def image_filter(change: Change, path: str) -> bool:
+
+    if change == Change.added:
+        header_magic_len = 7
+        with open(path, "rb") as f:
+            image_header = f.read(header_magic_len)  # read the first 7 bytes of the file
+            if len(image_header) >= header_magic_len:
+                try:
+                    check_valid_image_header(image_header)
+                except InvalidImageError as e:
+                    log.debug(f"New image '{path}' added: {e}")
+                    return False
+            else:
+                log.debug(f"New image '{path}' added: size is too small to be valid")
+                return False
+        return True
+    # FIXME: should we support image deletion?
+    # elif change == Change.deleted:
+    #     return True
+    return False
+
+
+async def monitor_images_on_filesystem(app: FastAPI):
+
+    server_config = Config.instance().settings.Server
+    images_dir = os.path.expanduser(server_config.images_path)
+
+    try:
+        async for changes in awatch(
+                images_dir,
+                watch_filter=image_filter,
+                raise_interrupt=True
+        ):
+            async with AsyncSession(app.state._db_engine) as db_session:
+                images_repository = ImagesRepository(db_session)
+                for change in changes:
+                    change_type, image_path = change
+                    if change_type == Change.added:
+                        try:
+                            image = await read_image_info(image_path)
+                        except InvalidImageError as e:
+                            log.warning(str(e))
+                            continue
+                        try:
+                            if await images_repository.get_image(image_path):
+                                continue
+                            await images_repository.add_image(**image)
+                            log.info(f"Discovered image '{image_path}' has been added to the database")
+                        except SQLAlchemyError as e:
+                            log.warning(f"Error while adding image '{image_path}' to the database: {e}")
+                    # if change_type == Change.deleted:
+                    #     try:
+                    #         if await images_repository.get_image(image_path):
+                    #             success = await images_repository.delete_image(image_path)
+                    #             if not success:
+                    #                 log.warning(f"Could not delete image '{image_path}' from the database")
+                    #             else:
+                    #                 log.info(f"Image '{image_path}' has been deleted from the database")
+                    #     except SQLAlchemyError as e:
+                    #         log.warning(f"Error while deleting image '{image_path}' from the database: {e}")
+    except KeyboardInterrupt:
+        # send SIGTERM to the server PID so uvicorn can shutdown the process
+        os.kill(os.getpid(), signal.SIGTERM)
+
+
+async def discover_images_on_filesystem(app: FastAPI):
+
+    async with AsyncSession(app.state._db_engine) as db_session:
+        images_repository = ImagesRepository(db_session)
+        db_images = await images_repository.get_images()
+        existing_image_paths = []
+        for db_image in db_images:
+            try:
+                image = schemas.Image.from_orm(db_image)
+                existing_image_paths.append(image.path)
+            except ValidationError as e:
+                log.error(f"Could not load image '{db_image.filename}' from database: {e}")
+                continue
+        for image_type in ("qemu", "ios", "iou"):
+            discovered_images = await discover_images(image_type, existing_image_paths)
+            for image in discovered_images:
+                log.info(f"Adding discovered image '{image['path']}' to the database")
+                try:
+                    await images_repository.add_image(**image)
+                except SQLAlchemyError as e:
+                    log.warning(f"Error while adding image '{image['path']}' to the database: {e}")
+
+    # monitor if images have been manually added
+    asyncio.create_task(monitor_images_on_filesystem(app))
diff --git a/gns3server/utils/images.py b/gns3server/utils/images.py
index d1d9eecd..1ef85bc9 100644
--- a/gns3server/utils/images.py
+++ b/gns3server/utils/images.py
@@ -20,19 +20,20 @@ import stat
 import aiofiles
 import shutil
 
-from typing import AsyncGenerator
+from typing import List, AsyncGenerator
 from ..config import Config
 from . import force_unix_path
 
 import gns3server.db.models as models
 from gns3server.db.repositories.images import ImagesRepository
+from gns3server.utils.asyncio import wait_run_in_executor
 
 import logging
 
 log = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
 
-def list_images(image_type):
+async def list_images(image_type):
     """
     Scan directories for available image for a given type.
 
@@ -59,7 +60,6 @@ def list_images(image_type):
         directory = os.path.normpath(directory)
         for root, _, filenames in _os_walk(directory, recurse=recurse):
             for filename in filenames:
-                path = os.path.join(root, filename)
                 if filename not in files:
                     if filename.endswith(".md5sum") or filename.startswith("."):
                         continue
@@ -92,7 +92,7 @@ def list_images(image_type):
                                 {
                                     "filename": filename,
                                     "path": force_unix_path(path),
-                                    "md5sum": md5sum(os.path.join(root, filename)),
+                                    "md5sum": await wait_run_in_executor(md5sum, os.path.join(root, filename)),
                                     "filesize": os.stat(os.path.join(root, filename)).st_size,
                                 }
                             )
@@ -101,6 +101,59 @@ def list_images(image_type):
     return images
 
 
+async def read_image_info(path: str, expected_image_type: str = None) -> dict:
+
+    header_magic_len = 7
+    try:
+        async with aiofiles.open(path, "rb") as f:
+            image_header = await f.read(header_magic_len)  # read the first 7 bytes of the file
+            if len(image_header) >= header_magic_len:
+                detected_image_type = check_valid_image_header(image_header)
+                if expected_image_type and detected_image_type != expected_image_type:
+                    raise InvalidImageError(f"Detected image type for '{path}' is {detected_image_type}, "
+                                            f"expected type is {expected_image_type}")
+            else:
+                raise InvalidImageError(f"Image '{path}' is too small to be valid")
+    except OSError as e:
+        raise InvalidImageError(f"Cannot read image '{path}': {e}")
+
+    image_info = {
+        "image_name": os.path.basename(path),
+        "image_type": detected_image_type,
+        "image_size": os.stat(path).st_size,
+        "path": path,
+        "checksum": await wait_run_in_executor(md5sum, path),
+        "checksum_algorithm": "md5",
+    }
+    return image_info
+
+
+async def discover_images(image_type: str, skip_image_paths: list = None) -> List[dict]:
+    """
+    Scan directories for available images
+    """
+
+    files = set()
+    images = []
+
+    for directory in images_directories(image_type):
+        for root, _, filenames in os.walk(os.path.normpath(directory)):
+            for filename in filenames:
+                if filename.endswith(".md5sum") or filename.startswith("."):
+                    continue
+                path = os.path.join(root, filename)
+                if not os.path.isfile(path) or skip_image_paths and path in skip_image_paths or path in files:
+                    continue
+                files.add(path)
+
+                try:
+                    images.append(await read_image_info(path, image_type))
+                except InvalidImageError as e:
+                    #log.warning(f"{e}")
+                    continue
+    return images
+
+
 def _os_walk(directory, recurse=True, **kwargs):
     """
     Work like os.walk but if recurse is False just list current directory
@@ -133,18 +186,18 @@ def default_images_directory(image_type):
         raise NotImplementedError(f"%s node type is not supported", image_type)
 
 
-def images_directories(type):
+def images_directories(image_type):
     """
     Return all directories where we will look for images
     by priority
 
-    :param type: Type of emulator
+    :param image_type: Type of emulator
     """
 
     server_config = Config.instance().settings.Server
     paths = []
     img_dir = os.path.expanduser(server_config.images_path)
-    type_img_directory = default_images_directory(type)
+    type_img_directory = default_images_directory(image_type)
     try:
         os.makedirs(type_img_directory, exist_ok=True)
         paths.append(type_img_directory)
@@ -193,7 +246,7 @@ def md5sum(path, working_dir=None, stopped_event=None):
                 if stopped_event is not None and stopped_event.is_set():
                     log.error(f"MD5 sum calculation of `{path}` has stopped due to cancellation")
                     return
-                buf = f.read(128)
+                buf = f.read(1024)
                 if not buf:
                     break
                 m.update(buf)
@@ -237,10 +290,11 @@ def check_valid_image_header(data: bytes) -> str:
         # for IOS images: file must start with the ELF magic number, be 32-bit, big endian and have an ELF version of 1
         return "ios"
     elif data[:7] == b'\x7fELF\x01\x01\x01' or data[:7] == b'\x7fELF\x02\x01\x01':
-        # for IOU images file must start with the ELF magic number, be 32-bit or 64-bit, little endian and
+        # for IOU images: file must start with the ELF magic number, be 32-bit or 64-bit, little endian and
         # have an ELF version of 1 (normal IOS images are big endian!)
         return "iou"
-    elif data[:4] != b'QFI\xfb' or data[:4] != b'KDMV':
+    elif data[:4] == b'QFI\xfb' or data[:4] == b'KDMV':
+        # for Qemy images: file must be QCOW2 or VMDK
         return "qemu"
     else:
         raise InvalidImageError("Could not detect image type, please make sure it is a valid image")
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index 7bc97804..92e08028 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -15,4 +15,5 @@ aiosqlite===0.17.0
 passlib[bcrypt]==1.7.4
 python-jose==3.3.0
 email-validator==1.1.3
+watchfiles==0.13
 setuptools==60.6.0  # don't upgrade because of https://github.com/pypa/setuptools/issues/3084