diff --git a/cogl/winsys/cogl-winsys-egl-kms.c b/cogl/winsys/cogl-winsys-egl-kms.c
index c5d014ad0..662892781 100644
--- a/cogl/winsys/cogl-winsys-egl-kms.c
+++ b/cogl/winsys/cogl-winsys-egl-kms.c
@@ -668,10 +668,11 @@ _cogl_winsys_egl_display_setup (CoglDisplay *display,
                          NULL,
                          0, /* n excluded connectors */
                          error);
-  kms_display->outputs = g_list_append (kms_display->outputs, output0);
   if (!output0)
     return FALSE;
 
+  kms_display->outputs = g_list_append (kms_display->outputs, output0);
+
   if (getenv ("COGL_KMS_MIRROR"))
     mirror = TRUE;
   else