diff --git a/meta/lib/oeqa/utils/qemurunner.py b/meta/lib/oeqa/utils/qemurunner.py
index d362edeecb..256cf3c6a8 100644
--- a/meta/lib/oeqa/utils/qemurunner.py
+++ b/meta/lib/oeqa/utils/qemurunner.py
@@ -78,6 +78,9 @@ class QemuRunner:
         else:
             os.environ["DEPLOY_DIR_IMAGE"] = self.deploy_dir_image
 
+        # Set this flag so that Qemu doesn't do any grabs as SDL grabs interact
+        # badly with screensavers.
+        os.environ["QEMU_DONT_GRAB"] = "1"
         self.qemuparams = 'bootparams="console=tty1 console=ttyS0,115200n8" qemuparams="-serial tcp:127.0.0.1:%s"' % self.serverport
         if qemuparams:
             self.qemuparams = self.qemuparams[:-1] + " " + qemuparams + " " + '\"'