diff --git a/include/ui/console.h b/include/ui/console.h
index aae9e44cb3c0ddb0cddfecd052e9bc458896f2cc..5fca9afcbc9aafbed71db2764a484e633e653566 100644
--- a/include/ui/console.h
+++ b/include/ui/console.h
@@ -260,6 +260,8 @@ DisplaySurface *qemu_create_displaysurface_guestmem(int width, int height,
                                                     pixman_format_code_t format,
                                                     int linesize,
                                                     uint64_t addr);
+DisplaySurface *qemu_create_message_surface(int w, int h,
+                                            const char *msg);
 PixelFormat qemu_default_pixelformat(int bpp);
 
 DisplaySurface *qemu_create_displaysurface(int width, int height);
diff --git a/ui/console.c b/ui/console.c
index 6ab4ff3bafb7afe619eac7199f38843d4622ad3a..348610dd4367a648cf5d064105969c6cd025ef1d 100644
--- a/ui/console.c
+++ b/ui/console.c
@@ -1039,8 +1039,10 @@ void console_select(unsigned int index)
                     dcl->ops->dpy_gfx_switch(dcl, s->surface);
                 }
             }
-            dpy_gfx_update(s, 0, 0, surface_width(s->surface),
-                           surface_height(s->surface));
+            if (s->surface) {
+                dpy_gfx_update(s, 0, 0, surface_width(s->surface),
+                               surface_height(s->surface));
+            }
         }
         if (ds->have_text) {
             dpy_text_resize(s, s->width, s->height);
@@ -1370,8 +1372,8 @@ DisplaySurface *qemu_create_displaysurface_guestmem(int width, int height,
     return surface;
 }
 
-static DisplaySurface *qemu_create_message_surface(int w, int h,
-                                                   const char *msg)
+DisplaySurface *qemu_create_message_surface(int w, int h,
+                                            const char *msg)
 {
     DisplaySurface *surface = qemu_create_displaysurface(w, h);
     pixman_color_t bg = color_table_rgb[0][QEMU_COLOR_BLACK];
diff --git a/ui/vnc.c b/ui/vnc.c
index 13c28cabb0c1eff7a7d409f45992bd1f40b99be7..e164eb798c9bf3d95b03e44e746210dd1e4e62ba 100644
--- a/ui/vnc.c
+++ b/ui/vnc.c
@@ -746,9 +746,19 @@ static void vnc_update_server_surface(VncDisplay *vd)
 static void vnc_dpy_switch(DisplayChangeListener *dcl,
                            DisplaySurface *surface)
 {
+    static const char placeholder_msg[] =
+        "Display output is not active.";
+    static DisplaySurface *placeholder;
     VncDisplay *vd = container_of(dcl, VncDisplay, dcl);
     VncState *vs;
 
+    if (surface == NULL) {
+        if (placeholder == NULL) {
+            placeholder = qemu_create_message_surface(640, 480, placeholder_msg);
+        }
+        surface = placeholder;
+    }
+
     vnc_abort_display_jobs(vd);
     vd->ds = surface;