diff --git a/src/backends/native/meta-kms-types.h b/src/backends/native/meta-kms-types.h
index 64045ef45..5e9a4b3e7 100644
--- a/src/backends/native/meta-kms-types.h
+++ b/src/backends/native/meta-kms-types.h
@@ -68,6 +68,7 @@ typedef enum _MetaKmsUpdateChanges
 {
   META_KMS_UPDATE_CHANGE_NONE = 0,
   META_KMS_UPDATE_CHANGE_GAMMA = 1 << 0,
+  META_KMS_UPDATE_CHANGE_NO_DEVICES = 1 << 1,
   META_KMS_UPDATE_CHANGE_FULL = -1,
 } MetaKmsUpdateChanges;
 
diff --git a/src/backends/native/meta-kms.c b/src/backends/native/meta-kms.c
index 6676db3e7..e66966f84 100644
--- a/src/backends/native/meta-kms.c
+++ b/src/backends/native/meta-kms.c
@@ -576,6 +576,9 @@ meta_kms_update_states_in_impl (MetaKms  *kms)
 
   meta_assert_in_kms_impl (kms);
 
+  if (!kms->devices)
+    return META_KMS_UPDATE_CHANGE_NO_DEVICES;
+
   for (l = kms->devices; l; l = l->next)
     {
       MetaKmsDevice *kms_device = META_KMS_DEVICE (l->data);