diff --git a/wdmtg.c b/wdmtg.c
index 93aadfc..f18d5ee 100644
--- a/wdmtg.c
+++ b/wdmtg.c
@@ -523,8 +523,6 @@ generator_init(void)
 
 	const uint32_t values[] = { XCB_EVENT_MASK_PROPERTY_CHANGE };
 	(void) xcb_change_window_attributes(gen.X, root, XCB_CW_EVENT_MASK, values);
-	(void) xcb_flush(gen.X);
-	// TODO: how are XCB errors handled?  What if the last xcb_flush() fails?
 
 	GKeyFile *kf = g_key_file_new();
 	gchar *subpath = g_build_filename(PROJECT_NAME, PROJECT_NAME ".conf", NULL);
@@ -549,6 +547,9 @@ generator_init(void)
 	update_current_window();
 	set_idle_alarm(&gen.idle_alarm_inactive,
 		XCB_SYNC_TESTTYPE_POSITIVE_COMPARISON, gen.idle_timeout);
+
+	(void) xcb_flush(gen.X);
+	// TODO: how are XCB errors handled?  What if the last xcb_flush() fails?
 }
 
 static void