diff --git a/js/ui/background.js b/js/ui/background.js
index 20f5e8912..2811da3fb 100644
--- a/js/ui/background.js
+++ b/js/ui/background.js
@@ -765,10 +765,19 @@ var BackgroundManager = class BackgroundManager {
             this._updateBackgroundActor();
         });
 
+        let loadedSignalId = background.connect('loaded', () => {
+            background.disconnect(loadedSignalId);
+            loadedSignalId = null;
+            this.emit('loaded');
+        });
+
         backgroundActor.connect('destroy', () => {
             if (changeSignalId)
                 background.disconnect(changeSignalId);
 
+            if (loadedSignalId)
+                background.disconnect(loadedSignalId);
+
             if (backgroundActor.loadedSignalId)
                 background.disconnect(backgroundActor.loadedSignalId);
         });
diff --git a/js/ui/layout.js b/js/ui/layout.js
index 55cefb282..d37c76940 100644
--- a/js/ui/layout.js
+++ b/js/ui/layout.js
@@ -457,6 +457,15 @@ var LayoutManager = GObject.registerClass({
         }
     }
 
+    _waitLoaded(bgManager) {
+        return new Promise(resolve => {
+            const id = bgManager.connect('loaded', () => {
+                bgManager.disconnect(id);
+                resolve();
+            });
+        });
+    }
+
     _updateBackgrounds() {
         for (let i = 0; i < this._bgManagers.length; i++)
             this._bgManagers[i].destroy();
@@ -464,7 +473,7 @@ var LayoutManager = GObject.registerClass({
         this._bgManagers = [];
 
         if (Main.sessionMode.isGreeter)
-            return;
+            return Promise.resolve();
 
         for (let i = 0; i < this.monitors.length; i++) {
             let bgManager = this._createBackgroundManager(i);
@@ -473,6 +482,8 @@ var LayoutManager = GObject.registerClass({
             if (i != this.primaryIndex && this._startingUp)
                 bgManager.backgroundActor.hide();
         }
+
+        return Promise.all(this._bgManagers.map(this._waitLoaded));
     }
 
     _updateKeyboardBox() {
@@ -631,7 +642,7 @@ var LayoutManager = GObject.registerClass({
     // When starting a normal user session, we want to grow it out of the middle
     // of the screen.
 
-    _prepareStartupAnimation() {
+    async _prepareStartupAnimation() {
         // During the initial transition, add a simple actor to block all events,
         // so they don't get delivered to X11 windows that have been transformed.
         this._coverPane = new Clutter.Actor({ opacity: 0,
@@ -648,8 +659,6 @@ var LayoutManager = GObject.registerClass({
         } else if (Main.sessionMode.isGreeter) {
             this.panelBox.translation_y = -this.panelBox.height;
         } else {
-            this._updateBackgrounds();
-
             // We need to force an update of the regions now before we scale
             // the UI group to get the correct allocation for the struts.
             this._updateRegions();
@@ -665,6 +674,8 @@ var LayoutManager = GObject.registerClass({
             this.uiGroup.scale_x = this.uiGroup.scale_y = 0.75;
             this.uiGroup.opacity = 0;
             global.window_group.set_clip(monitor.x, monitor.y, monitor.width, monitor.height);
+
+            await this._updateBackgrounds();
         }
 
         this.emit('startup-prepared');