diff --git a/src/nvim/arglist.c b/src/nvim/arglist.c
index 541534abf9..064543b430 100644
--- a/src/nvim/arglist.c
+++ b/src/nvim/arglist.c
@@ -851,6 +851,9 @@ static void arg_all_close_unused_windows(arg_all_state_T *aall)
   if (aall->had_tab > 0) {
     goto_tabpage_tp(first_tabpage, true, true);
   }
+
+  // moving tabpages around in an autocommand may cause an endless loop
+  tabpage_move_disallowed++;
   while (true) {
     win_T *wpnext = NULL;
     tabpage_T *tpnext = curtab->tp_next;
@@ -950,6 +953,7 @@ static void arg_all_close_unused_windows(arg_all_state_T *aall)
     }
     goto_tabpage_tp(tpnext, true, true);
   }
+  tabpage_move_disallowed--;
 }
 
 /// Open up to "count" windows for the files in the argument list "aall->alist".
diff --git a/src/nvim/autocmd.h b/src/nvim/autocmd.h
index ea8f32feb2..b0a5a13026 100644
--- a/src/nvim/autocmd.h
+++ b/src/nvim/autocmd.h
@@ -28,8 +28,8 @@ EXTERN win_T *last_cursormoved_win INIT( = NULL);
 EXTERN pos_T last_cursormoved INIT( = { 0, 0, 0 });
 
 EXTERN bool autocmd_busy INIT( = false);     ///< Is apply_autocmds() busy?
-EXTERN int autocmd_no_enter INIT( = false);  ///< *Enter autocmds disabled
-EXTERN int autocmd_no_leave INIT( = false);  ///< *Leave autocmds disabled
+EXTERN int autocmd_no_enter INIT( = false);  ///< Buf/WinEnter autocmds disabled
+EXTERN int autocmd_no_leave INIT( = false);  ///< Buf/WinLeave autocmds disabled
 EXTERN bool did_filetype INIT( = false);     ///< FileType event found
 /// value for did_filetype when starting to execute autocommands
 EXTERN bool keep_filetype INIT( = false);
diff --git a/src/nvim/window.c b/src/nvim/window.c
index 618a3f760e..0a09d8e27d 100644
--- a/src/nvim/window.c
+++ b/src/nvim/window.c
@@ -4426,6 +4426,10 @@ void tabpage_move(int nr)
     return;
   }
 
+  if (tabpage_move_disallowed) {
+    return;
+  }
+
   int n = 1;
   tabpage_T *tp;
 
diff --git a/src/nvim/window.h b/src/nvim/window.h
index d70292508a..3c88965324 100644
--- a/src/nvim/window.h
+++ b/src/nvim/window.h
@@ -43,6 +43,8 @@ enum {
   LOWEST_WIN_ID = 1000,
 };
 
+EXTERN int tabpage_move_disallowed INIT( = 0);  ///< moving tabpages around disallowed
+
 /// Set to true if 'cmdheight' was explicitly set to 0.
 EXTERN bool p_ch_was_zero INIT( = false);
 
diff --git a/test/old/testdir/test_tabpage.vim b/test/old/testdir/test_tabpage.vim
index 4e7b09b9e7..d3393af04b 100644
--- a/test/old/testdir/test_tabpage.vim
+++ b/test/old/testdir/test_tabpage.vim
@@ -905,4 +905,23 @@ func Test_tabpage_last_line()
   bwipe!
 endfunc
 
+" this was causing an endless loop
+func Test_tabpage_drop_tabmove()
+  augroup TestTabpageTabmove
+    au!
+    autocmd! TabEnter * :if tabpagenr() > 1 | tabmove - | endif
+  augroup end
+  $tab drop XTab_99.log
+  $tab drop XTab_98.log
+  $tab drop XTab_97.log
+
+  autocmd! TestTabpageTabmove
+  augroup! TestTabpageTabmove
+
+  " clean up
+  bwipe!
+  bwipe!
+  bwipe!
+endfunc
+
 " vim: shiftwidth=2 sts=2 expandtab