diff --git a/config/config-backends.h b/config/config-backends.h
index e5622d51e..62abc0a5f 100644
--- a/config/config-backends.h
+++ b/config/config-backends.h
@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@ void remove_devices(const char *backend, const char *config_info);
 BOOL device_is_duplicate(const char *config_info);
 
 #ifdef CONFIG_UDEV
+int config_udev_pre_init(void);
 int config_udev_init(void);
 void config_udev_fini(void);
 #else
diff --git a/config/config.c b/config/config.c
index 2b96dbb74..24e7ba7a0 100644
--- a/config/config.c
+++ b/config/config.c
@@ -32,6 +32,15 @@
 #include "hotplug.h"
 #include "config-backends.h"
 
+void
+config_pre_init(void)
+{
+#ifdef CONFIG_UDEV
+    if (!config_udev_pre_init())
+        ErrorF("[config] failed to pre-init udev\n");
+#endif
+}
+
 void
 config_init(void)
 {
diff --git a/config/udev.c b/config/udev.c
index 8b3ca0475..1995184f3 100644
--- a/config/udev.c
+++ b/config/udev.c
@@ -281,15 +281,14 @@ block_handler(pointer data, struct timeval **tv, pointer read_mask)
 }
 
 int
-config_udev_init(void)
+config_udev_pre_init(void)
 {
     struct udev *udev;
-    struct udev_enumerate *enumerate;
-    struct udev_list_entry *devices, *device;
 
     udev = udev_new();
     if (!udev)
         return 0;
+
     udev_monitor = udev_monitor_new_from_netlink(udev, "udev");
     if (!udev_monitor)
         return 0;
@@ -302,12 +301,21 @@ config_udev_init(void)
     if (SeatId && strcmp(SeatId, "seat0"))
         udev_monitor_filter_add_match_tag(udev_monitor, SeatId);
 #endif
-
     if (udev_monitor_enable_receiving(udev_monitor)) {
         ErrorF("config/udev: failed to bind the udev monitor\n");
         return 0;
     }
+    return 1;
+}
 
+int
+config_udev_init(void)
+{
+    struct udev *udev;
+    struct udev_enumerate *enumerate;
+    struct udev_list_entry *devices, *device;
+
+    udev = udev_monitor_get_udev(udev_monitor);
     enumerate = udev_enumerate_new(udev);
     if (!enumerate)
         return 0;
diff --git a/hw/xfree86/common/xf86Init.c b/hw/xfree86/common/xf86Init.c
index f42dd1083..ead47ccba 100644
--- a/hw/xfree86/common/xf86Init.c
+++ b/hw/xfree86/common/xf86Init.c
@@ -405,6 +405,8 @@ InitOutput(ScreenInfo * pScreenInfo, int argc, char **argv)
 
     xf86Initialising = TRUE;
 
+    config_pre_init();
+
     if (serverGeneration == 1) {
         if ((xf86ServerName = strrchr(argv[0], '/')) != 0)
             xf86ServerName++;
diff --git a/include/hotplug.h b/include/hotplug.h
index caa3201e7..f3eeea21d 100644
--- a/include/hotplug.h
+++ b/include/hotplug.h
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@
 #ifndef HOTPLUG_H
 #define HOTPLUG_H
 
+extern _X_EXPORT void config_pre_init(void);
 extern _X_EXPORT void config_init(void);
 extern _X_EXPORT void config_fini(void);