diff --git a/hw/xnest/Screen.c b/hw/xnest/Screen.c
index 88111a306..df2b23ed0 100644
--- a/hw/xnest/Screen.c
+++ b/hw/xnest/Screen.c
@@ -147,7 +147,6 @@ xnestOpenScreen(ScreenPtr pScreen, int argc, char *argv[])
     int numVisuals, numDepths;
     int i, j, depthIndex;
     unsigned long valuemask;
-    XWindowAttributes gattributes;
     VisualID defaultVisual;
     int rootDepth;
     miPointerScreenPtr PointPriv;
@@ -263,9 +262,9 @@ xnestOpenScreen(ScreenPtr pScreen, int argc, char *argv[])
     rootDepth = visuals[xnestDefaultVisualIndex].nplanes;
 
     if (xnestParentWindow != 0) {
-        XGetWindowAttributes(xnestDisplay, xnestParentWindow, &gattributes);
-        xnestGeometry.width = gattributes.width;
-        xnestGeometry.height = gattributes.height;
+        xRectangle r = xnest_get_geometry(xnestUpstreamInfo.conn, xnestParentWindow);
+        xnestGeometry.width = r.width;
+        xnestGeometry.height = r.height;
     }
 
     /* myNum */
diff --git a/hw/xnest/xcb.c b/hw/xnest/xcb.c
index 39d868dd6..57dcd4cdf 100644
--- a/hw/xnest/xcb.c
+++ b/hw/xnest/xcb.c
@@ -292,3 +292,29 @@ void xnest_get_pointer_control(
     *threshold = reply->threshold;
     free(reply);
 }
+
+xRectangle xnest_get_geometry(xcb_connection_t *conn, uint32_t window)
+{
+    xcb_generic_error_t *err = NULL;
+    xcb_get_geometry_reply_t *reply = xcb_get_geometry_reply(
+        xnestUpstreamInfo.conn,
+        xcb_get_geometry(xnestUpstreamInfo.conn, window),
+        &err);
+
+    if (err) {
+        ErrorF("failed getting window attributes for %d: %d\n", window, err->error_code);
+        free(err);
+        return (xRectangle) { 0 };
+    }
+
+    if (!reply) {
+        ErrorF("failed getting window attributes for %d: no reply\n", window);
+        return (xRectangle) { 0 };
+    }
+
+    return (xRectangle) {
+        .x = reply->x,
+        .y = reply->y,
+        .width = reply->width,
+        .height = reply->height };
+}
diff --git a/hw/xnest/xnest-xcb.h b/hw/xnest/xnest-xcb.h
index 410145a18..7b03811e3 100644
--- a/hw/xnest/xnest-xcb.h
+++ b/hw/xnest/xnest-xcb.h
@@ -43,4 +43,6 @@ xcb_get_keyboard_mapping_reply_t *xnest_get_keyboard_mapping(xcb_connection_t *c
 
 void xnest_get_pointer_control(xcb_connection_t *conn, int *acc_num, int *acc_den, int *threshold);
 
+xRectangle xnest_get_geometry(xcb_connection_t *conn, uint32_t window);
+
 #endif /* __XNEST__XCB_H */