diff --git a/gdk/wayland/gdkdisplay-wayland.c b/gdk/wayland/gdkdisplay-wayland.c
index 97eebcaae4..2f0c64e521 100644
--- a/gdk/wayland/gdkdisplay-wayland.c
+++ b/gdk/wayland/gdkdisplay-wayland.c
@@ -941,6 +941,7 @@ create_shm_pool (struct wl_shm  *shm,
                   filename, g_strerror (errno));
       return NULL;
     }
+  unlink (filename);
 
   stride = width * 4;
   size = stride * height;
@@ -953,7 +954,6 @@ create_shm_pool (struct wl_shm  *shm,
     }
 
   data = mmap (NULL, size, PROT_READ | PROT_WRITE, MAP_SHARED, fd, 0);
-  unlink (filename);
 
   if (data == MAP_FAILED)
     {