diff --git a/hw/display/cirrus_vga.c b/hw/display/cirrus_vga.c
index 27252646bc7817aa8b79c4fd2042769f6627b7cc..3a53f2039241ad459d7db8d6787dfd271a8f361b 100644
--- a/hw/display/cirrus_vga.c
+++ b/hw/display/cirrus_vga.c
@@ -202,8 +202,6 @@ typedef struct CirrusVGAState {
     uint32_t cirrus_bank_base[2];
     uint32_t cirrus_bank_limit[2];
     uint8_t cirrus_hidden_palette[48];
-    uint32_t hw_cursor_x;
-    uint32_t hw_cursor_y;
     int cirrus_blt_pixelwidth;
     int cirrus_blt_width;
     int cirrus_blt_height;
@@ -1328,7 +1326,7 @@ static void cirrus_vga_write_sr(CirrusVGAState * s, uint32_t val)
     case 0xd0:
     case 0xf0:			// Graphics Cursor X
 	s->vga.sr[0x10] = val;
-	s->hw_cursor_x = (val << 3) | (s->vga.sr_index >> 5);
+        s->vga.hw_cursor_x = (val << 3) | (s->vga.sr_index >> 5);
 	break;
     case 0x11:
     case 0x31:
@@ -1339,7 +1337,7 @@ static void cirrus_vga_write_sr(CirrusVGAState * s, uint32_t val)
     case 0xd1:
     case 0xf1:			// Graphics Cursor Y
 	s->vga.sr[0x11] = val;
-	s->hw_cursor_y = (val << 3) | (s->vga.sr_index >> 5);
+        s->vga.hw_cursor_y = (val << 3) | (s->vga.sr_index >> 5);
 	break;
     case 0x07:			// Extended Sequencer Mode
     cirrus_update_memory_access(s);
@@ -1351,7 +1349,6 @@ static void cirrus_vga_write_sr(CirrusVGAState * s, uint32_t val)
     case 0x0d:			// VCLK 2
     case 0x0e:			// VCLK 3
     case 0x0f:			// DRAM Control
-    case 0x12:			// Graphics Cursor Attribute
     case 0x13:			// Graphics Cursor Pattern Address
     case 0x14:			// Scratch Register 2
     case 0x15:			// Scratch Register 3
@@ -1370,6 +1367,14 @@ static void cirrus_vga_write_sr(CirrusVGAState * s, uint32_t val)
 	       s->vga.sr_index, val);
 #endif
 	break;
+    case 0x12:			// Graphics Cursor Attribute
+	s->vga.sr[0x12] = val;
+        s->vga.force_shadow = !!(val & CIRRUS_CURSOR_SHOW);
+#ifdef DEBUG_CIRRUS
+        printf("cirrus: cursor ctl SR12=%02x (force shadow: %d)\n",
+               val, s->vga.force_shadow);
+#endif
+        break;
     case 0x17:			// Configuration Readback and Extended Control
 	s->vga.sr[s->vga.sr_index] = (s->vga.sr[s->vga.sr_index] & 0x38)
                                    | (val & 0xc7);
@@ -2188,14 +2193,14 @@ static void cirrus_cursor_invalidate(VGACommonState *s1)
     }
     /* invalidate last cursor and new cursor if any change */
     if (s->last_hw_cursor_size != size ||
-        s->last_hw_cursor_x != s->hw_cursor_x ||
-        s->last_hw_cursor_y != s->hw_cursor_y) {
+        s->last_hw_cursor_x != s->vga.hw_cursor_x ||
+        s->last_hw_cursor_y != s->vga.hw_cursor_y) {
 
         invalidate_cursor1(s);
 
         s->last_hw_cursor_size = size;
-        s->last_hw_cursor_x = s->hw_cursor_x;
-        s->last_hw_cursor_y = s->hw_cursor_y;
+        s->last_hw_cursor_x = s->vga.hw_cursor_x;
+        s->last_hw_cursor_y = s->vga.hw_cursor_y;
         /* compute the real cursor min and max y */
         cirrus_cursor_compute_yrange(s);
         invalidate_cursor1(s);
@@ -2252,14 +2257,15 @@ static void cirrus_cursor_draw_line(VGACommonState *s1, uint8_t *d1, int scr_y)
     } else {
         h = 32;
     }
-    if (scr_y < s->hw_cursor_y ||
-        scr_y >= (s->hw_cursor_y + h))
+    if (scr_y < s->vga.hw_cursor_y ||
+        scr_y >= (s->vga.hw_cursor_y + h)) {
         return;
+    }
 
     src = s->vga.vram_ptr + s->real_vram_size - 16 * 1024;
     if (s->vga.sr[0x12] & CIRRUS_CURSOR_LARGE) {
         src += (s->vga.sr[0x13] & 0x3c) * 256;
-        src += (scr_y - s->hw_cursor_y) * 16;
+        src += (scr_y - s->vga.hw_cursor_y) * 16;
         poffset = 8;
         content = ((uint32_t *)src)[0] |
             ((uint32_t *)src)[1] |
@@ -2267,7 +2273,7 @@ static void cirrus_cursor_draw_line(VGACommonState *s1, uint8_t *d1, int scr_y)
             ((uint32_t *)src)[3];
     } else {
         src += (s->vga.sr[0x13] & 0x3f) * 256;
-        src += (scr_y - s->hw_cursor_y) * 4;
+        src += (scr_y - s->vga.hw_cursor_y) * 4;
 
 
         poffset = 128;
@@ -2279,10 +2285,10 @@ static void cirrus_cursor_draw_line(VGACommonState *s1, uint8_t *d1, int scr_y)
         return;
     w = h;
 
-    x1 = s->hw_cursor_x;
+    x1 = s->vga.hw_cursor_x;
     if (x1 >= s->vga.last_scr_width)
         return;
-    x2 = s->hw_cursor_x + w;
+    x2 = s->vga.hw_cursor_x + w;
     if (x2 > s->vga.last_scr_width)
         x2 = s->vga.last_scr_width;
     w = x2 - x1;
@@ -2771,8 +2777,8 @@ static const VMStateDescription vmstate_cirrus_vga = {
         VMSTATE_INT32(vga.bank_offset, CirrusVGAState),
         VMSTATE_UINT8(cirrus_hidden_dac_lockindex, CirrusVGAState),
         VMSTATE_UINT8(cirrus_hidden_dac_data, CirrusVGAState),
-        VMSTATE_UINT32(hw_cursor_x, CirrusVGAState),
-        VMSTATE_UINT32(hw_cursor_y, CirrusVGAState),
+        VMSTATE_UINT32(vga.hw_cursor_x, CirrusVGAState),
+        VMSTATE_UINT32(vga.hw_cursor_y, CirrusVGAState),
         /* XXX: we do not save the bitblt state - we assume we do not save
            the state when the blitter is active */
         VMSTATE_END_OF_LIST()
diff --git a/hw/display/vga-pci.c b/hw/display/vga-pci.c
index db922f1843a7b1892666580aae5a1d8171cd0184..53739e4f792c05d4ef4d305c0c4499a1758cde6b 100644
--- a/hw/display/vga-pci.c
+++ b/hw/display/vga-pci.c
@@ -321,6 +321,7 @@ static void secondary_class_init(ObjectClass *klass, void *data)
     dc->vmsd = &vmstate_vga_pci;
     dc->props = secondary_pci_properties;
     dc->reset = pci_secondary_vga_reset;
+    set_bit(DEVICE_CATEGORY_DISPLAY, dc->categories);
 }
 
 static const TypeInfo vga_info = {
diff --git a/hw/display/vga.c b/hw/display/vga.c
index 52eaf056594dbb9fb1f35fb3141685ff4224d650..a620c0786492d4fc6781b1b0964613bc9d978190 100644
--- a/hw/display/vga.c
+++ b/hw/display/vga.c
@@ -1436,6 +1436,7 @@ static void vga_draw_graphic(VGACommonState *s, int full_update)
     uint8_t *d;
     uint32_t v, addr1, addr;
     vga_draw_line_func *vga_draw_line = NULL;
+    bool share_surface;
 #ifdef HOST_WORDS_BIGENDIAN
     bool byteswap = !s->big_endian_fb;
 #else
@@ -1479,21 +1480,33 @@ static void vga_draw_graphic(VGACommonState *s, int full_update)
     }
 
     depth = s->get_bpp(s);
+
+    share_surface = (!s->force_shadow) &&
+            ( depth == 32 || (depth == 16 && !byteswap) );
     if (s->line_offset != s->last_line_offset ||
         disp_width != s->last_width ||
         height != s->last_height ||
         s->last_depth != depth ||
-        s->last_byteswap != byteswap) {
-        if (depth == 32 || (depth == 16 && !byteswap)) {
+        s->last_byteswap != byteswap ||
+        share_surface != is_buffer_shared(surface)) {
+        if (share_surface) {
             pixman_format_code_t format =
                 qemu_default_pixman_format(depth, !byteswap);
             surface = qemu_create_displaysurface_from(disp_width,
                     height, format, s->line_offset,
                     s->vram_ptr + (s->start_addr * 4));
             dpy_gfx_replace_surface(s->con, surface);
+#ifdef DEBUG_VGA
+            printf("VGA: Using shared surface for depth=%d swap=%d\n",
+                   depth, byteswap);
+#endif
         } else {
             qemu_console_resize(s->con, disp_width, height);
             surface = qemu_console_surface(s->con);
+#ifdef DEBUG_VGA
+            printf("VGA: Using shadow surface for depth=%d swap=%d\n",
+                   depth, byteswap);
+#endif
         }
         s->last_scr_width = disp_width;
         s->last_scr_height = height;
diff --git a/hw/display/vga_int.h b/hw/display/vga_int.h
index ed69e064a8a4631af81ac702bf8721807bc27edd..fcfcc5f431b69f66016bf01b8b0170dc890a8595 100644
--- a/hw/display/vga_int.h
+++ b/hw/display/vga_int.h
@@ -151,6 +151,7 @@ typedef struct VGACommonState {
     uint32_t last_scr_width, last_scr_height; /* in pixels */
     uint32_t last_depth; /* in bits */
     bool last_byteswap;
+    bool force_shadow;
     uint8_t cursor_start, cursor_end;
     bool cursor_visible_phase;
     int64_t cursor_blink_time;
@@ -162,6 +163,8 @@ typedef struct VGACommonState {
     bool default_endian_fb;
     /* hardware mouse cursor support */
     uint32_t invalidated_y_table[VGA_MAX_HEIGHT / 32];
+    uint32_t hw_cursor_x;
+    uint32_t hw_cursor_y;
     void (*cursor_invalidate)(struct VGACommonState *s);
     void (*cursor_draw_line)(struct VGACommonState *s, uint8_t *d, int y);
     /* tell for each page if it has been updated since the last time */