diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_command.c b/src/qemu/qemu_command.c
index 3898ed7d7d..68ee3130de 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_command.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_command.c
@@ -9210,7 +9210,12 @@ qemuBuildCommandLine(virQEMUDriverPtr driver,
      * these defaults ourselves...
      */
     if (!def->ngraphics) {
-        virCommandAddArg(cmd, "-nographic");
+        if (virQEMUCapsGet(qemuCaps, QEMU_CAPS_DISPLAY)) {
+            virCommandAddArg(cmd, "-display");
+            virCommandAddArg(cmd, "none");
+        } else {
+            virCommandAddArg(cmd, "-nographic");
+        }
 
         if (cfg->nogfxAllowHostAudio)
             virCommandAddEnvPassBlockSUID(cmd, "QEMU_AUDIO_DRV", NULL);
diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_parse_command.c b/src/qemu/qemu_parse_command.c
index 9ee262b90c..09bd09aa17 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_parse_command.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_parse_command.c
@@ -2039,6 +2039,10 @@ qemuParseCommandLine(virCapsPtr caps,
             def->virtType = VIR_DOMAIN_VIRT_KVM;
         } else if (STREQ(arg, "-nographic")) {
             nographics = true;
+        } else if (STREQ(arg, "-display")) {
+            WANT_VALUE();
+            if (STREQ(val, "none"))
+                nographics = true;
         } else if (STREQ(arg, "-full-screen")) {
             fullscreen = true;
         } else if (STREQ(arg, "-localtime")) {
diff --git a/tests/qemuargv2xmldata/qemuargv2xml-nographics-vga-display.args b/tests/qemuargv2xmldata/qemuargv2xml-nographics-vga-display.args
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..423c078466
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/qemuargv2xmldata/qemuargv2xml-nographics-vga-display.args
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+LC_ALL=C \
+PATH=/bin \
+HOME=/home/test \
+USER=test \
+LOGNAME=test \
+QEMU_AUDIO_DRV=none \
+/usr/bin/qemu \
+-name QEMUGuest1 \
+-S \
+-M pc \
+-m 214 \
+-smp 1 \
+-uuid c7a5fdbd-edaf-9455-926a-d65c16db1809 \
+-display none \
+-monitor unix:/tmp/test-monitor,server,nowait \
+-no-acpi \
+-boot c \
+-usb \
+-drive file=/dev/HostVG/QEMUGuest1,format=raw,if=ide,bus=0,unit=0 \
+-net none \
+-serial none \
+-parallel none \
+-vga none
diff --git a/tests/qemuargv2xmldata/qemuargv2xml-nographics-vga-display.xml b/tests/qemuargv2xmldata/qemuargv2xml-nographics-vga-display.xml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..9beaf06ad3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/qemuargv2xmldata/qemuargv2xml-nographics-vga-display.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+<domain type='qemu'>
+  <name>QEMUGuest1</name>
+  <uuid>c7a5fdbd-edaf-9455-926a-d65c16db1809</uuid>
+  <memory unit='KiB'>219136</memory>
+  <currentMemory unit='KiB'>219136</currentMemory>
+  <vcpu placement='static'>1</vcpu>
+  <os>
+    <type arch='i686' machine='pc'>hvm</type>
+    <boot dev='hd'/>
+  </os>
+  <clock offset='utc'/>
+  <on_poweroff>destroy</on_poweroff>
+  <on_reboot>restart</on_reboot>
+  <on_crash>destroy</on_crash>
+  <devices>
+    <emulator>/usr/bin/qemu</emulator>
+    <disk type='block' device='disk'>
+      <driver name='qemu' type='raw'/>
+      <source dev='/dev/HostVG/QEMUGuest1'/>
+      <target dev='hda' bus='ide'/>
+      <address type='drive' controller='0' bus='0' target='0' unit='0'/>
+    </disk>
+    <controller type='usb' index='0'>
+      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x01' function='0x2'/>
+    </controller>
+    <controller type='pci' index='0' model='pci-root'/>
+    <controller type='ide' index='0'>
+      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x01' function='0x1'/>
+    </controller>
+    <input type='mouse' bus='ps2'/>
+    <input type='keyboard' bus='ps2'/>
+    <memballoon model='none'/>
+  </devices>
+</domain>
diff --git a/tests/qemuargv2xmltest.c b/tests/qemuargv2xmltest.c
index 55dda01d4e..a709c72cf1 100644
--- a/tests/qemuargv2xmltest.c
+++ b/tests/qemuargv2xmltest.c
@@ -232,6 +232,7 @@ mymain(void)
     DO_TEST("graphics-sdl");
     DO_TEST("graphics-sdl-fullscreen");
     DO_TEST("nographics-vga");
+    DO_TEST("nographics-vga-display");
     DO_TEST("input-usbmouse");
     DO_TEST("input-usbtablet");
     DO_TEST("misc-acpi");
diff --git a/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/qemuxml2argv-nographics-display.args b/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/qemuxml2argv-nographics-display.args
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..c13735a6f5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/qemuxml2argv-nographics-display.args
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+LC_ALL=C \
+PATH=/bin \
+HOME=/home/test \
+USER=test \
+LOGNAME=test \
+QEMU_AUDIO_DRV=none \
+/usr/bin/qemu \
+-name QEMUGuest1 \
+-S \
+-M pc \
+-m 214 \
+-smp 1 \
+-uuid c7a5fdbd-edaf-9455-926a-d65c16db1809 \
+-display none \
+-nodefaults \
+-monitor unix:/tmp/lib/domain--1-QEMUGuest1/monitor.sock,server,nowait \
+-no-acpi \
+-boot c \
+-usb \
+-drive file=/dev/HostVG/QEMUGuest1,format=raw,if=none,id=drive-ide0-0-0 \
+-device ide-drive,bus=ide.0,unit=0,drive=drive-ide0-0-0,id=ide0-0-0 \
+-device virtio-balloon-pci,id=balloon0,bus=pci.0,addr=0x3
diff --git a/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/qemuxml2argv-nographics-display.xml b/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/qemuxml2argv-nographics-display.xml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..2d0fbb4265
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/qemuxml2argv-nographics-display.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+<domain type='qemu'>
+  <name>QEMUGuest1</name>
+  <uuid>c7a5fdbd-edaf-9455-926a-d65c16db1809</uuid>
+  <memory unit='KiB'>219100</memory>
+  <currentMemory unit='KiB'>219100</currentMemory>
+  <vcpu placement='static'>1</vcpu>
+  <os>
+    <type arch='i686' machine='pc'>hvm</type>
+    <boot dev='hd'/>
+  </os>
+  <clock offset='utc'/>
+  <on_poweroff>destroy</on_poweroff>
+  <on_reboot>restart</on_reboot>
+  <on_crash>destroy</on_crash>
+  <devices>
+    <emulator>/usr/bin/qemu</emulator>
+    <disk type='block' device='disk'>
+      <source dev='/dev/HostVG/QEMUGuest1'/>
+      <target dev='hda' bus='ide'/>
+      <address type='drive' controller='0' bus='0' target='0' unit='0'/>
+    </disk>
+    <controller type='ide' index='0'/>
+    <memballoon model='virtio'/>
+  </devices>
+</domain>
diff --git a/tests/qemuxml2argvtest.c b/tests/qemuxml2argvtest.c
index 6c526da268..518b667112 100644
--- a/tests/qemuxml2argvtest.c
+++ b/tests/qemuxml2argvtest.c
@@ -923,6 +923,8 @@ mymain(void)
     DO_TEST("graphics-sdl", QEMU_CAPS_SDL);
     DO_TEST("graphics-sdl-fullscreen", QEMU_CAPS_SDL);
     DO_TEST("nographics", NONE);
+    DO_TEST("nographics-display",
+            QEMU_CAPS_DISPLAY);
     DO_TEST("nographics-vga",
             QEMU_CAPS_VGA_NONE);
     DO_TEST("graphics-spice",
diff --git a/tests/qemuxml2xmltest.c b/tests/qemuxml2xmltest.c
index af697095bd..ae328c2aa1 100644
--- a/tests/qemuxml2xmltest.c
+++ b/tests/qemuxml2xmltest.c
@@ -448,7 +448,7 @@ mymain(void)
     DO_TEST("graphics-spice-auto-socket-cfg");
     cfg->spiceAutoUnixSocket = false;
 
-    DO_TEST("nographics-vga");
+    DO_TEST_FULL("nographics-vga", WHEN_BOTH, GIC_NONE, QEMU_CAPS_DISPLAY);
     DO_TEST("input-usbmouse");
     DO_TEST("input-usbtablet");
     DO_TEST("misc-acpi");