diff --git a/libweston/backend-drm/drm-internal.h b/libweston/backend-drm/drm-internal.h
index 7f427018a..ea0065f7c 100644
--- a/libweston/backend-drm/drm-internal.h
+++ b/libweston/backend-drm/drm-internal.h
@@ -739,7 +739,14 @@ to_drm_output(struct weston_output *base)
 static inline struct drm_backend *
 to_drm_backend(struct weston_compositor *base)
 {
-	return container_of(base->backend, struct drm_backend, base);
+	struct weston_backend *backend;
+
+	wl_list_for_each(backend, &base->backend_list, link) {
+		if (backend->destroy == drm_destroy)
+			return container_of(backend, struct drm_backend, base);
+	}
+
+	return NULL;
 }
 
 static inline struct drm_mode *
diff --git a/libweston/backend-drm/drm.c b/libweston/backend-drm/drm.c
index 53906416b..da87c933f 100644
--- a/libweston/backend-drm/drm.c
+++ b/libweston/backend-drm/drm.c
@@ -3263,6 +3263,8 @@ drm_destroy(struct weston_backend *backend)
 	struct drm_crtc *crtc, *crtc_tmp;
 	struct drm_writeback *writeback, *writeback_tmp;
 
+	wl_list_remove(&b->base.link);
+
 	wl_list_for_each_safe(crtc, crtc_tmp, &b->drm->crtc_list, link)
 		drm_crtc_destroy(crtc);
 
@@ -3802,7 +3804,7 @@ drm_backend_create(struct weston_compositor *compositor,
 						   "Debug messages from DRM/KMS backend\n",
 						   NULL, NULL, NULL);
 
-	compositor->backend = &b->base;
+	wl_list_insert(&compositor->backend_list, &b->base.link);
 
 	if (parse_gbm_format(config->gbm_format,
 			     pixel_format_get_info(DRM_FORMAT_XRGB8888),
@@ -4021,6 +4023,7 @@ err_udev:
 err_launcher:
 	weston_launcher_destroy(compositor->launcher);
 err_compositor:
+	wl_list_remove(&b->base.link);
 #ifdef BUILD_DRM_GBM
 	if (b->gbm)
 		gbm_device_destroy(b->gbm);
@@ -4050,6 +4053,11 @@ weston_backend_init(struct weston_compositor *compositor,
 		return -1;
 	}
 
+	if (compositor->renderer) {
+		weston_log("drm backend must be the primary backend\n");
+		return -1;
+	}
+
 	config_init_to_defaults(&config);
 	memcpy(&config, config_base, config_base->struct_size);