diff --git a/hw/display/qxl.c b/hw/display/qxl.c
index 7f8c73b56d..ae3677fd1e 100644
--- a/hw/display/qxl.c
+++ b/hw/display/qxl.c
@@ -2054,6 +2054,7 @@ static void qxl_realize_common(PCIQXLDevice *qxl, Error **errp)
     uint32_t pci_device_rev;
     uint32_t io_size;
 
+    qemu_spice_display_init_common(&qxl->ssd);
     qxl->mode = QXL_MODE_UNDEFINED;
     qxl->generation = 1;
     qxl->num_memslots = NUM_MEMSLOTS;
@@ -2176,7 +2177,6 @@ static void qxl_realize_primary(PCIDevice *dev, Error **errp)
     portio_list_add(&qxl->vga_port_list, pci_address_space_io(dev), 0x3b0);
 
     vga->con = graphic_console_init(DEVICE(dev), 0, &qxl_ops, qxl);
-    qemu_spice_display_init_common(&qxl->ssd);
 
     qxl_realize_common(qxl, &local_err);
     if (local_err) {