diff --git a/src/nm-policy.c b/src/nm-policy.c
index 07bcce89ec..004470dbc0 100644
--- a/src/nm-policy.c
+++ b/src/nm-policy.c
@@ -83,6 +83,8 @@ struct _NMPolicyPrivate {
 
 	guint reset_retries_id;  /* idle handler for resetting the retries count */
 
+	guint schedule_activate_all_id; /* idle handler for schedule_activate_all(). */
+
 	char *orig_hostname; /* hostname at NM start time */
 	char *cur_hostname;  /* hostname we want to assign */
 	gboolean hostname_changed;  /* TRUE if NM ever set the hostname */
@@ -1015,8 +1017,6 @@ reset_connections_retries (gpointer user_data)
 	return FALSE;
 }
 
-static void schedule_activate_all (NMPolicy *self);
-
 static void
 activate_slave_connections (NMPolicy *self, NMDevice *device)
 {
@@ -1579,14 +1579,30 @@ active_connection_removed (NMManager *manager,
 
 /**************************************************************************/
 
+static gboolean
+schedule_activate_all_cb (gpointer user_data)
+{
+	NMPolicy *self = user_data;
+	NMPolicyPrivate *priv = NM_POLICY_GET_PRIVATE (self);
+	const GSList *iter;
+
+	priv->schedule_activate_all_id = 0;
+
+	for (iter = nm_manager_get_devices (priv->manager); iter; iter = g_slist_next (iter))
+		schedule_activate_check (self, iter->data);
+
+	return G_SOURCE_REMOVE;
+}
+
 static void
 schedule_activate_all (NMPolicy *self)
 {
 	NMPolicyPrivate *priv = NM_POLICY_GET_PRIVATE (self);
-	const GSList *iter;
 
-	for (iter = nm_manager_get_devices (priv->manager); iter; iter = g_slist_next (iter))
-		schedule_activate_check (self, NM_DEVICE (iter->data));
+	/* always restart the idle handler. That way, we settle
+	 * all other events before restarting to activate them. */
+	nm_clear_g_source (&priv->schedule_activate_all_id);
+	priv->schedule_activate_all_id = g_idle_add (schedule_activate_all_cb, self);
 }
 
 static void
@@ -1941,6 +1957,7 @@ dispose (GObject *object)
 	g_assert (connections == NULL);
 
 	nm_clear_g_source (&priv->reset_retries_id);
+	nm_clear_g_source (&priv->schedule_activate_all_id);
 
 	g_clear_pointer (&priv->orig_hostname, g_free);
 	g_clear_pointer (&priv->cur_hostname, g_free);