diff --git a/hw/vfio/Makefile.objs b/hw/vfio/Makefile.objs
index c3ab9097f160..a2e7a0a7cf02 100644
--- a/hw/vfio/Makefile.objs
+++ b/hw/vfio/Makefile.objs
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 ifeq ($(CONFIG_LINUX), y)
 obj-$(CONFIG_SOFTMMU) += common.o
-obj-$(CONFIG_PCI) += pci.o pci-quirks.o
+obj-$(CONFIG_PCI) += pci.o pci-quirks.o display.o
 obj-$(CONFIG_VFIO_CCW) += ccw.o
 obj-$(CONFIG_SOFTMMU) += platform.o
 obj-$(CONFIG_VFIO_XGMAC) += calxeda-xgmac.o
diff --git a/hw/vfio/display.c b/hw/vfio/display.c
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..3e997f8a44f2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/hw/vfio/display.c
@@ -0,0 +1,56 @@
+/*
+ * display support for mdev based vgpu devices
+ *
+ * Copyright Red Hat, Inc. 2017
+ *
+ * Authors:
+ *    Gerd Hoffmann
+ *
+ * This work is licensed under the terms of the GNU GPL, version 2.  See
+ * the COPYING file in the top-level directory.
+ */
+
+#include "qemu/osdep.h"
+#include <linux/vfio.h>
+#include <sys/ioctl.h>
+
+#include "sysemu/sysemu.h"
+#include "ui/console.h"
+#include "qapi/error.h"
+#include "pci.h"
+
+int vfio_display_probe(VFIOPCIDevice *vdev, Error **errp)
+{
+    struct vfio_device_gfx_plane_info probe;
+    int ret;
+
+    memset(&probe, 0, sizeof(probe));
+    probe.argsz = sizeof(probe);
+    probe.flags = VFIO_GFX_PLANE_TYPE_PROBE | VFIO_GFX_PLANE_TYPE_DMABUF;
+    ret = ioctl(vdev->vbasedev.fd, VFIO_DEVICE_QUERY_GFX_PLANE, &probe);
+    if (ret == 0) {
+        error_setg(errp, "vfio-display: dmabuf support not implemented yet");
+        return -1;
+    }
+
+    memset(&probe, 0, sizeof(probe));
+    probe.argsz = sizeof(probe);
+    probe.flags = VFIO_GFX_PLANE_TYPE_PROBE | VFIO_GFX_PLANE_TYPE_REGION;
+    ret = ioctl(vdev->vbasedev.fd, VFIO_DEVICE_QUERY_GFX_PLANE, &probe);
+    if (ret == 0) {
+        error_setg(errp, "vfio-display: region support not implemented yet");
+        return -1;
+    }
+
+    if (vdev->display == ON_OFF_AUTO_AUTO) {
+        /* not an error in automatic mode */
+        return 0;
+    }
+
+    error_setg(errp, "vfio: device doesn't support any (known) display method");
+    return -1;
+}
+
+void vfio_display_finalize(VFIOPCIDevice *vdev)
+{
+}
diff --git a/hw/vfio/pci.c b/hw/vfio/pci.c
index 3ba3cbc1460b..b9d2c12b8273 100644
--- a/hw/vfio/pci.c
+++ b/hw/vfio/pci.c
@@ -3015,6 +3015,13 @@ static void vfio_realize(PCIDevice *pdev, Error **errp)
         }
     }
 
+    if (vdev->display != ON_OFF_AUTO_OFF) {
+        ret = vfio_display_probe(vdev, errp);
+        if (ret) {
+            goto out_teardown;
+        }
+    }
+
     vfio_register_err_notifier(vdev);
     vfio_register_req_notifier(vdev);
     vfio_setup_resetfn_quirk(vdev);
@@ -3035,6 +3042,7 @@ static void vfio_instance_finalize(Object *obj)
     VFIOPCIDevice *vdev = DO_UPCAST(VFIOPCIDevice, pdev, pci_dev);
     VFIOGroup *group = vdev->vbasedev.group;
 
+    vfio_display_finalize(vdev);
     vfio_bars_finalize(vdev);
     g_free(vdev->emulated_config_bits);
     g_free(vdev->rom);
@@ -3123,6 +3131,8 @@ static void vfio_instance_init(Object *obj)
 static Property vfio_pci_dev_properties[] = {
     DEFINE_PROP_PCI_HOST_DEVADDR("host", VFIOPCIDevice, host),
     DEFINE_PROP_STRING("sysfsdev", VFIOPCIDevice, vbasedev.sysfsdev),
+    DEFINE_PROP_ON_OFF_AUTO("display", VFIOPCIDevice,
+                            display, ON_OFF_AUTO_AUTO),
     DEFINE_PROP_UINT32("x-intx-mmap-timeout-ms", VFIOPCIDevice,
                        intx.mmap_timeout, 1100),
     DEFINE_PROP_BIT("x-vga", VFIOPCIDevice, features,
diff --git a/hw/vfio/pci.h b/hw/vfio/pci.h
index f4aa13e021fa..a846cf62374a 100644
--- a/hw/vfio/pci.h
+++ b/hw/vfio/pci.h
@@ -133,6 +133,7 @@ typedef struct VFIOPCIDevice {
 #define VFIO_FEATURE_ENABLE_IGD_OPREGION_BIT 2
 #define VFIO_FEATURE_ENABLE_IGD_OPREGION \
                                 (1 << VFIO_FEATURE_ENABLE_IGD_OPREGION_BIT)
+    OnOffAuto display;
     int32_t bootindex;
     uint32_t igd_gms;
     OffAutoPCIBAR msix_relo;
@@ -174,4 +175,7 @@ int vfio_pci_igd_opregion_init(VFIOPCIDevice *vdev,
                                struct vfio_region_info *info,
                                Error **errp);
 
+int vfio_display_probe(VFIOPCIDevice *vdev, Error **errp);
+void vfio_display_finalize(VFIOPCIDevice *vdev);
+
 #endif /* HW_VFIO_VFIO_PCI_H */
