diff --git a/compositingprefs.cpp b/compositingprefs.cpp
index b79106c25b..87a6e91f36 100644
--- a/compositingprefs.cpp
+++ b/compositingprefs.cpp
@@ -139,7 +139,8 @@ void CompositingPrefs::detect()
 #ifndef KWIN_HAVE_OPENGLES
     // HACK: This is needed for AIGLX
     const bool forceIndirect = qstrcmp(qgetenv("LIBGL_ALWAYS_INDIRECT"), "1") == 0;
-    if (!forceIndirect && qstrcmp(qgetenv("KWIN_DIRECT_GL"), "1") != 0) {
+    const bool forceEgl = qstrcmp(qgetenv("KWIN_OPENGL_INTERFACE"), "egl") == 0;
+    if (!forceIndirect && !forceEgl && qstrcmp(qgetenv("KWIN_DIRECT_GL"), "1") != 0) {
         // Start an external helper program that initializes GLX and returns
         // 0 if we can use direct rendering, and 1 otherwise.
         // The reason we have to use an external program is that after GLX
diff --git a/options.cpp b/options.cpp
index a2463ae352..03203ef291 100644
--- a/options.cpp
+++ b/options.cpp
@@ -949,7 +949,9 @@ void Options::reloadCompositingSettings(bool force)
 
     // Compositing settings
     CompositingPrefs prefs;
-    prefs.detect();
+    if (compositingMode() == OpenGLCompositing) {
+        prefs.detect();
+    }
 
     KSharedConfig::Ptr _config = KGlobal::config();
     KConfigGroup config(_config, "Compositing");