diff --git a/data/org.gnome.mutter.gschema.xml.in b/data/org.gnome.mutter.gschema.xml.in
index ec8958f81..ef9ab7ae5 100644
--- a/data/org.gnome.mutter.gschema.xml.in
+++ b/data/org.gnome.mutter.gschema.xml.in
@@ -126,9 +126,6 @@
                                         or user must have CAP_SYS_NICE.
                                         Requires a restart.
 
-        • “autostart-xwayland”        — initializes Xwayland lazily if there are
-                                        X11 clients. Requires a restart.
-
         • “dma-buf-screen-sharing"    — enables DMA buffered screen sharing. This
                                         is already enabled by default when using
                                         the i915 driver, but disabled for 
diff --git a/src/backends/meta-settings-private.h b/src/backends/meta-settings-private.h
index 629406550..cde7e0439 100644
--- a/src/backends/meta-settings-private.h
+++ b/src/backends/meta-settings-private.h
@@ -34,9 +34,8 @@ typedef enum _MetaExperimentalFeature
   META_EXPERIMENTAL_FEATURE_SCALE_MONITOR_FRAMEBUFFER = (1 << 0),
   META_EXPERIMENTAL_FEATURE_KMS_MODIFIERS  = (1 << 1),
   META_EXPERIMENTAL_FEATURE_RT_SCHEDULER = (1 << 2),
-  META_EXPERIMENTAL_FEATURE_AUTOSTART_XWAYLAND  = (1 << 3),
-  META_EXPERIMENTAL_FEATURE_DMA_BUF_SCREEN_SHARING = (1 << 4),
-  META_EXPERIMENTAL_FEATURE_AUTOCLOSE_XWAYLAND  = (1 << 5),
+  META_EXPERIMENTAL_FEATURE_DMA_BUF_SCREEN_SHARING = (1 << 3),
+  META_EXPERIMENTAL_FEATURE_AUTOCLOSE_XWAYLAND  = (1 << 4),
 } MetaExperimentalFeature;
 
 typedef enum _MetaXwaylandExtension
diff --git a/src/backends/meta-settings.c b/src/backends/meta-settings.c
index 8d5baaa6f..6a754d4e0 100644
--- a/src/backends/meta-settings.c
+++ b/src/backends/meta-settings.c
@@ -271,8 +271,6 @@ experimental_features_handler (GVariant *features_variant,
         feature = META_EXPERIMENTAL_FEATURE_KMS_MODIFIERS;
       else if (g_str_equal (feature_str, "rt-scheduler"))
         feature = META_EXPERIMENTAL_FEATURE_RT_SCHEDULER;
-      else if (g_str_equal (feature_str, "autostart-xwayland"))
-        feature = META_EXPERIMENTAL_FEATURE_AUTOSTART_XWAYLAND;
       else if (g_str_equal (feature_str, "dma-buf-screen-sharing"))
         feature = META_EXPERIMENTAL_FEATURE_DMA_BUF_SCREEN_SHARING;
       else if (g_str_equal (feature_str, "autoclose-xwayland"))
diff --git a/src/core/main.c b/src/core/main.c
index 7c936a3a6..d0b2a48d9 100644
--- a/src/core/main.c
+++ b/src/core/main.c
@@ -794,14 +794,12 @@ meta_get_x11_display_policy (void)
 #ifdef HAVE_WAYLAND
   if (meta_is_wayland_compositor ())
     {
-      MetaSettings *settings = meta_backend_get_settings (backend);
-
       if (opt_no_x11)
         return META_DISPLAY_POLICY_DISABLED;
 
-      if (meta_settings_is_experimental_feature_enabled (settings,
-                                                         META_EXPERIMENTAL_FEATURE_AUTOSTART_XWAYLAND))
-        return META_DISPLAY_POLICY_ON_DEMAND;
+#ifdef HAVE_XWAYLAND_INITFD
+      return META_DISPLAY_POLICY_ON_DEMAND;
+#endif
     }
 #endif