diff --git a/src/backend/meson.build b/src/backend/meson.build
index 2ac155636..67f3c636f 100644
--- a/src/backend/meson.build
+++ b/src/backend/meson.build
@@ -100,7 +100,7 @@ executable(
   backend_test,
   backend_test + '.c',
   include_directories: libbacon_video_widget_incs,
-  dependencies: [libbacon_video_widget_dep],
+  dependencies: [libbacon_video_widget_dep, x11_dep],
   c_args: libbacon_video_widget_cflags + [
     '-DG_LOG_DOMAIN="@0@"'.format(backend_test)
   ]
diff --git a/src/meson.build b/src/meson.build
index ca2286093..7f50b3e34 100644
--- a/src/meson.build
+++ b/src/meson.build
@@ -186,7 +186,7 @@ totem = executable(
   meson.project_name(),
   'totem.c',
   include_directories: totem_common_incs,
-  dependencies: [ libtotem_dep ],
+  dependencies: [ libtotem_dep, x11_dep ],
   c_args: totem_common_cflags + [
     '-DG_LOG_DOMAIN="Totem"'
   ],
diff --git a/src/totem.c b/src/totem.c
index 46fed4505..3794f5497 100644
--- a/src/totem.c
+++ b/src/totem.c
@@ -35,6 +35,11 @@
 #include <locale.h>
 #include <string.h>
 
+#ifdef GDK_WINDOWING_X11
+/* X11 headers */
+#include <X11/Xlib.h>
+#endif
+
 #include "totem.h"
 
 int
@@ -47,6 +52,11 @@ main (int argc, char **argv)
 	bind_textdomain_codeset (GETTEXT_PACKAGE, "UTF-8");
 	textdomain (GETTEXT_PACKAGE);
 
+#ifdef GDK_WINDOWING_X11
+	if (XInitThreads () == 0)
+		g_error ("XInitThreads() failed, OS is broken. Contact your provider for support.");
+#endif
+
 	g_set_prgname ("totem");
 #if DEVELOPMENT_VERSION
 	g_set_application_name (_("Videos Preview"));