diff --git a/src/compositor/meta-compositor-x11.c b/src/compositor/meta-compositor-x11.c
index 633c12daa..74f77b48f 100644
--- a/src/compositor/meta-compositor-x11.c
+++ b/src/compositor/meta-compositor-x11.c
@@ -205,11 +205,17 @@ static void
 meta_compositor_x11_unmanage (MetaCompositor *compositor)
 {
   MetaDisplay *display = meta_compositor_get_display (compositor);
+  MetaContext *context = meta_display_get_context (display);
+  MetaBackend *backend = meta_context_get_backend (context);
   MetaX11Display *x11_display = display->x11_display;
   Display *xdisplay = x11_display->xdisplay;
   Window xroot = x11_display->xroot;
+  Window backend_xwindow;
   MetaCompositorClass *parent_class;
 
+  backend_xwindow = meta_backend_x11_get_xwindow (META_BACKEND_X11 (backend));
+  XReparentWindow (xdisplay, backend_xwindow, xroot, 0, 0);
+
   /*
    * This is the most important part of cleanup - we have to do this before
    * giving up the window manager selection or the next window manager won't be
diff --git a/src/tests/meson.build b/src/tests/meson.build
index 529559e18..61000a96e 100644
--- a/src/tests/meson.build
+++ b/src/tests/meson.build
@@ -684,7 +684,6 @@ if have_x11
       ],
       env: x11_env,
       suite: ['core', 'mutter/x11'],
-      should_fail: mode == 'sync',
       is_parallel: false,
       timeout: 60,
     )