diff --git a/gio/tests/gdbus-proxy.c b/gio/tests/gdbus-proxy.c
index 8a2c324a2..b8d542429 100644
--- a/gio/tests/gdbus-proxy.c
+++ b/gio/tests/gdbus-proxy.c
@@ -808,11 +808,19 @@ proxy_ready (GObject      *source,
 {
   GDBusProxy *proxy;
   GError *error;
+  gchar *owner;
 
   error = NULL;
   proxy = g_dbus_proxy_new_for_bus_finish (result, &error);
   g_assert_no_error (error);
 
+  owner = g_dbus_proxy_get_name_owner (proxy);
+  g_assert_null (owner);
+  g_free (owner);
+
+  /* this is safe; we explicitly kill the service later on */
+  g_assert (g_spawn_command_line_async (g_test_get_filename (G_TEST_BUILT, "gdbus-testserver", NULL), NULL));
+
   _g_assert_property_notify (proxy, "g-name-owner");
 
   test_basic (proxy);
@@ -847,9 +855,6 @@ test_async (void)
                             proxy_ready,
                             NULL);
 
-  /* this is safe; testserver will exit once the bus goes away */
-  g_assert (g_spawn_command_line_async (g_test_get_filename (G_TEST_BUILT, "gdbus-testserver", NULL), NULL));
-
   id = g_timeout_add (10000, fail_test, NULL);
   g_main_loop_run (loop);