diff --git a/.gitlab-ci/common/init-stage2.sh b/.gitlab-ci/common/init-stage2.sh
index d8238d501b8..0b27b81017c 100755
--- a/.gitlab-ci/common/init-stage2.sh
+++ b/.gitlab-ci/common/init-stage2.sh
@@ -125,6 +125,9 @@ fi
 /capture-devcoredump.sh &
 BACKGROUND_PIDS="$! $BACKGROUND_PIDS"
 
+export XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=/run/user
+mkdir -p $XDG_RUNTIME_DIR
+
 # If we want Xorg to be running for the test, then we start it up before the
 # HWCI_TEST_SCRIPT because we need to use xinit to start X (otherwise
 # without using -displayfd you can race with Xorg's startup), but xinit will eat
@@ -152,8 +155,6 @@ if [ -n "$HWCI_START_WESTON" ]; then
     echo "Please consider dropping HWCI_START_XORG and instead using Weston XWayland for testing."
     WESTON_X11_SOCK="/tmp/.X11-unix/X1"
   fi
-  export XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=/run/user
-  mkdir -p $XDG_RUNTIME_DIR
   export WAYLAND_DISPLAY=wayland-0
 
   # Display server is Weston Xwayland when HWCI_START_XORG is not set or Xorg when it's