"Create screenshot of xmessage in background using 'smartdisplay' submodule" from easyprocess import EasyProcess from pyvirtualdisplay.smartdisplay import SmartDisplay # 'SmartDisplay' instead of 'Display' # It has 'waitgrab()' method. # It has more dependencies than Display. with SmartDisplay() as disp: with EasyProcess(["xmessage", "hello"]): # wait until something is displayed on the virtual display (polling method) # and then take a fullscreen screenshot # and then crop it. Background is black. img = disp.waitgrab() img.save("xmessage.png")