diff --git a/include/ui/qemu-spice.h b/include/ui/qemu-spice.h
index 2beb792972..71ecd6cfd1 100644
--- a/include/ui/qemu-spice.h
+++ b/include/ui/qemu-spice.h
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@
 
 void qemu_spice_input_init(void);
 void qemu_spice_display_init(void);
+void qemu_spice_display_init_done(void);
 bool qemu_spice_have_display_interface(QemuConsole *con);
 int qemu_spice_add_display_interface(QXLInstance *qxlin, QemuConsole *con);
 int qemu_spice_migrate_info(const char *hostname, int port, int tls_port,
diff --git a/ui/spice-core.c b/ui/spice-core.c
index 514c0f9754..beee932f55 100644
--- a/ui/spice-core.c
+++ b/ui/spice-core.c
@@ -625,6 +625,14 @@ static void vm_change_state_handler(void *opaque, int running,
     }
 }
 
+void qemu_spice_display_init_done(void)
+{
+    if (runstate_is_running()) {
+        qemu_spice_display_start();
+    }
+    qemu_add_vm_change_state_handler(vm_change_state_handler, NULL);
+}
+
 static void qemu_spice_init(void)
 {
     QemuOpts *opts = QTAILQ_FIRST(&qemu_spice_opts.head);
@@ -796,7 +804,6 @@ static void qemu_spice_init(void)
 
     qemu_spice_input_init();
 
-    qemu_add_vm_change_state_handler(vm_change_state_handler, NULL);
     qemu_spice_display_stop();
 
     g_free(x509_key_file);
diff --git a/ui/spice-display.c b/ui/spice-display.c
index 0178d5766d..3d3e3bcb22 100644
--- a/ui/spice-display.c
+++ b/ui/spice-display.c
@@ -1188,4 +1188,6 @@ void qemu_spice_display_init(void)
         }
         qemu_spice_display_init_one(con);
     }
+
+    qemu_spice_display_init_done();
 }