diff --git a/src/nm-dbus-manager.c b/src/nm-dbus-manager.c
index 230c4b8e08..88b65885fd 100644
--- a/src/nm-dbus-manager.c
+++ b/src/nm-dbus-manager.c
@@ -85,20 +85,28 @@ NMDBusManager *
 nm_dbus_manager_get (void)
 {
 	if (G_UNLIKELY (!singleton_instance)) {
-		static char already_created = FALSE;
-
-		g_assert (!already_created);
-		already_created = TRUE;
-		singleton_instance = g_object_new (NM_TYPE_DBUS_MANAGER, NULL);
-		g_assert (singleton_instance);
-		nm_singleton_instance_weak_ref_register ();
-		nm_log_dbg (LOGD_CORE, "create %s singleton (%p)", "NMDBusManager", singleton_instance);
+		nm_dbus_manager_setup (g_object_new (NM_TYPE_DBUS_MANAGER, NULL));
 		if (!nm_dbus_manager_init_bus (singleton_instance))
 			start_reconnection_timeout (singleton_instance);
 	}
 	return singleton_instance;
 }
 
+void
+nm_dbus_manager_setup (NMDBusManager *instance)
+{
+	static char already_setup = FALSE;
+
+	g_assert (NM_IS_DBUS_MANAGER (instance));
+	g_assert (!already_setup);
+	g_assert (!singleton_instance);
+
+	already_setup = TRUE;
+	singleton_instance = instance;
+	nm_singleton_instance_weak_ref_register ();
+	nm_log_dbg (LOGD_CORE, "create %s singleton (%p)", "NMDBusManager", singleton_instance);
+}
+
 /**************************************************************/
 
 struct _PrivateServer {
diff --git a/src/nm-dbus-manager.h b/src/nm-dbus-manager.h
index cc7f3210fd..c87ee02455 100644
--- a/src/nm-dbus-manager.h
+++ b/src/nm-dbus-manager.h
@@ -73,6 +73,7 @@ typedef struct {
 GType nm_dbus_manager_get_type (void);
 
 NMDBusManager * nm_dbus_manager_get       (void);
+void            nm_dbus_manager_setup     (NMDBusManager *instance);
 
 char * nm_dbus_manager_get_name_owner     (NMDBusManager *self,
                                            const char *name,