diff --git a/src/xpra/x11/gtk2/gdk_display_source.pyx b/src/xpra/x11/gtk2/gdk_display_source.pyx
index 578403d040..a51fc8651b 100644
--- a/src/xpra/x11/gtk2/gdk_display_source.pyx
+++ b/src/xpra/x11/gtk2/gdk_display_source.pyx
@@ -72,6 +72,8 @@ display = None
 ######
 def init_gdk_display_source():
     global display
+    if display:
+        return
     cdef cGdkDisplay* gdk_display
     cdef Display * x11_display
     if not gdk.display_get_default():
diff --git a/src/xpra/x11/gtk3/gdk_display_source.pyx b/src/xpra/x11/gtk3/gdk_display_source.pyx
index 8395b59cce..745ec9d8a6 100644
--- a/src/xpra/x11/gtk3/gdk_display_source.pyx
+++ b/src/xpra/x11/gtk3/gdk_display_source.pyx
@@ -47,6 +47,8 @@ def init_gdk_display_source():
     if not is_X11():
         from xpra.scripts.config import InitException
         raise InitException("cannot use X11 bindings with Wayland and GTK3 (buggy)")
+    if display:
+        return
     cdef GdkDisplay* gdk_display
     cdef Display * x11_display
     #from gi.repository import GdkX11