--- a/src/main.rs
+++ b/src/main.rs
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ use redox_driver_sys::pcid_client::PcidClient;
 use redox_driver_sys::quirks::PciQuirkFlags;
 use redox_scheme::{SignalBehavior, Socket};
+use syscall04::error::EBADF;
 
 use crate::driver::{DriverError, DriverEvent, GpuDriver, Result};
 use crate::drivers::DriverRegistry;
@@ -71,11 +72,6 @@ fn run() -> Result<()> {
         info.location
     );
 
-    let socket = Socket::create("drm")
-        .map_err(|e| DriverError::Initialization(format!("failed to register drm scheme: {e}")))?;
-    info!("redox-drm: registered scheme:drm");
-
     let (event_tx, event_rx) = mpsc::sync_channel::<DriverEvent>(8);
 
     let irq_driver: Arc<dyn GpuDriver> = driver.clone();
@@ -108,6 +104,15 @@ fn run() -> Result<()> {
         }
     });
 
+    // redox-scheme opens the scheme fd with O_CLOEXEC. On Redox, thread startup can
+    // invalidate a close-on-exec fd opened before the thread workers exist, which
+    // showed up as an immediate EBADF from next_request() during QEMU greeter boot.
+    // Register scheme:drm only after the worker threads are running so the listening
+    // fd remains stable for compositor clients.
+    let socket = create_drm_socket()?;
+    info!("redox-drm: registered scheme:drm");
+
     loop {
         let request = match socket.next_request(SignalBehavior::Restart) {
             Ok(Some(request)) => request,
@@ -118,6 +123,10 @@ fn run() -> Result<()> {
                 break;
             }
             Err(e) => {
+                if e.errno == EBADF {
+                    info!("redox-drm: scheme fd closed, exiting");
+                    break;
+                }
                 error!("redox-drm: failed to receive scheme request: {}", e);
                 continue;
             }
@@ -145,11 +154,22 @@ fn run() -> Result<()> {
         };
 
         if let Err(e) = socket.write_response(response, SignalBehavior::Restart) {
+            if e.errno == EBADF {
+                info!("redox-drm: scheme fd closed while writing response, exiting");
+                break;
+            }
             error!("redox-drm: failed to write scheme response: {}", e);
         }
     }
 
     Ok(())
 }
 
+fn create_drm_socket() -> Result<Socket> {
+    Socket::create("drm")
+        .map_err(|e| DriverError::Initialization(format!("failed to register drm scheme: {e}")))
+}
+
 fn select_gpu_from_args() -> Result<PciDeviceInfo> {
     let mut args = env::args().skip(1);
     let parsed = match (args.next(), args.next(), args.next()) {