diff --git a/incubator/net/src/main/java/org/onosproject/incubator/net/virtual/impl/provider/DefaultVirtualPacketProvider.java b/incubator/net/src/main/java/org/onosproject/incubator/net/virtual/impl/provider/DefaultVirtualPacketProvider.java
index 497e49a..5e65d94 100644
--- a/incubator/net/src/main/java/org/onosproject/incubator/net/virtual/impl/provider/DefaultVirtualPacketProvider.java
+++ b/incubator/net/src/main/java/org/onosproject/incubator/net/virtual/impl/provider/DefaultVirtualPacketProvider.java
@@ -103,9 +103,6 @@
                 "org.onosproject.virtual.virtual-packet");
         providerRegistryService.registerProvider(this);
 
-        processor = new InternalPacketProcessor();
-        packetService.addProcessor(processor, PACKET_PROCESSOR_PRIORITY);
-
         contextMap = Maps.newConcurrentMap();
 
         log.info("Started");
@@ -127,6 +124,12 @@
        packetService.emit(devirtualize(networkId, packet));
     }
 
+    @Override
+    public void startPacketHandling() {
+        processor = new InternalPacketProcessor();
+        packetService.addProcessor(processor, PACKET_PROCESSOR_PRIORITY);
+    }
+
     /**
      * Translate the requested physical PacketContext into a virtual PacketContext.
      * See {@link org.onosproject.net.packet.OutboundPacket}