diff --git a/src/wayland/meta-xwayland.c b/src/wayland/meta-xwayland.c
index d78b199bc..f306bb264 100644
--- a/src/wayland/meta-xwayland.c
+++ b/src/wayland/meta-xwayland.c
@@ -301,6 +301,14 @@ xserver_died (GPid     pid,
     }
 }
 
+static int
+x_io_error (Display *display)
+{
+  g_error ("Connection to xwayland lost");
+
+  return 0;
+}
+
 gboolean
 meta_xwayland_start (MetaWaylandCompositor *compositor)
 {
@@ -422,6 +430,13 @@ meta_xwayland_start (MetaWaylandCompositor *compositor)
 
   g_main_loop_run (compositor->init_loop);
 
+  /* We install an X IO error handler in addition to the child watch,
+     because after Xlib connects our child watch may not be called soon
+     enough, and therefore we won't crash when X exits (and most important
+     we won't reset the tty).
+  */
+  XSetIOErrorHandler (x_io_error);
+
   return TRUE;
 }