diff --git a/src/core/display.c b/src/core/display.c
index a8ed432b5..37aab062b 100644
--- a/src/core/display.c
+++ b/src/core/display.c
@@ -830,22 +830,12 @@ meta_display_open (void)
     {
       MetaScreen *screen = tmp->data;
 
-      if (meta_is_wayland_compositor ())
-        {
-          /* Instead of explicitly enumerating all windows during
-           * initialization, when we run as a wayland compositor we can rely on
-           * xwayland notifying us of all top level windows so we create
-           * MetaWindows when we get those notifications.
-           *
-           * We still want a guard window so we can avoid
-           * unmapping/withdrawing minimized windows for live
-           * thumbnails...
-           */
-          if (screen->guard_window == None)
-            screen->guard_window =
-              meta_screen_create_guard_window (screen->display->xdisplay, screen);
-        }
-      else
+      meta_screen_create_guard_window (screen);
+
+      /* We know that if mutter is running as a Wayland compositor,
+       * we start out with no windows.
+       */
+      if (!meta_is_wayland_compositor ())
         meta_screen_manage_all_windows (screen);
 
       tmp = tmp->next;
diff --git a/src/core/screen.c b/src/core/screen.c
index e1e967116..e8e8c56e0 100644
--- a/src/core/screen.c
+++ b/src/core/screen.c
@@ -445,8 +445,8 @@ reload_monitor_infos (MetaScreen *screen)
  * should effectively be forwarded to events on the background actor,
  * providing that the scene graph is set up correctly.
  */
-Window
-meta_screen_create_guard_window (Display *xdisplay, MetaScreen *screen)
+static Window
+create_guard_window (Display *xdisplay, MetaScreen *screen)
 {
   XSetWindowAttributes attributes;
   Window guard_window;
@@ -877,6 +877,13 @@ meta_screen_free (MetaScreen *screen,
   meta_display_ungrab (display);
 }
 
+void
+meta_screen_create_guard_window (MetaScreen *screen)
+{
+  if (screen->guard_window == None)
+    screen->guard_window = create_guard_window (screen->display->xdisplay, screen);
+}
+
 void
 meta_screen_manage_all_windows (MetaScreen *screen)
 {
@@ -884,10 +891,6 @@ meta_screen_manage_all_windows (MetaScreen *screen)
   MetaStackWindow *children;
   int n_children, i;
 
-  if (screen->guard_window == None)
-    screen->guard_window =
-      meta_screen_create_guard_window (screen->display->xdisplay, screen);
-
   meta_stack_freeze (screen->stack);
   meta_stack_tracker_get_stack (screen->stack_tracker, &_children, &n_children);