diff --git a/src/nvim/log.c b/src/nvim/log.c
index db36611933..225e40cdb4 100644
--- a/src/nvim/log.c
+++ b/src/nvim/log.c
@@ -93,6 +93,7 @@ static bool log_path_init(void)
 void log_init(void)
 {
   uv_mutex_init(&mutex);
+  log_path_init();
 }
 
 void log_lock(void)
diff --git a/src/nvim/main.c b/src/nvim/main.c
index c8959d9ad1..c7011f4f4e 100644
--- a/src/nvim/main.c
+++ b/src/nvim/main.c
@@ -144,7 +144,6 @@ static const char *err_extra_cmd =
 
 void event_init(void)
 {
-  log_init();
   loop_init(&main_loop, NULL);
   resize_events = multiqueue_new_child(main_loop.events);
 
@@ -220,6 +219,7 @@ void early_init(void)
   // First find out the home directory, needed to expand "~" in options.
   init_homedir();               // find real value of $HOME
   set_init_1();
+  log_init();
   TIME_MSG("inits 1");
 
   set_lang_var();               // set v:lang and v:ctype
diff --git a/test/functional/options/defaults_spec.lua b/test/functional/options/defaults_spec.lua
index 490a04186d..57e5077989 100644
--- a/test/functional/options/defaults_spec.lua
+++ b/test/functional/options/defaults_spec.lua
@@ -224,9 +224,6 @@ describe('startup defaults', function()
         XDG_DATA_HOME=xdgdir,
         NVIM_LOG_FILE='',  -- Empty is invalid.
       }})
-      -- server_start() calls ELOG, which tickles log_path_init().
-      pcall(command, 'call serverstart(serverlist()[0])')
-
       eq(xdgdir..'/'..datasubdir..'/log', string.gsub(eval('$NVIM_LOG_FILE'), '\\', '/'))
     end)
     it('defaults to stdpath("data")/log if invalid', function()
@@ -235,9 +232,6 @@ describe('startup defaults', function()
         XDG_DATA_HOME=xdgdir,
         NVIM_LOG_FILE='.',  -- Any directory is invalid.
       }})
-      -- server_start() calls ELOG, which tickles log_path_init().
-      pcall(command, 'call serverstart(serverlist()[0])')
-
       eq(xdgdir..'/'..datasubdir..'/log', string.gsub(eval('$NVIM_LOG_FILE'), '\\', '/'))
     end)
     it('defaults to .nvimlog if stdpath("data") is invalid', function()
@@ -245,9 +239,6 @@ describe('startup defaults', function()
         XDG_DATA_HOME='Xtest-missing-xdg-dir',
         NVIM_LOG_FILE='.',  -- Any directory is invalid.
       }})
-      -- server_start() calls ELOG, which tickles log_path_init().
-      pcall(command, 'call serverstart(serverlist()[0])')
-
       eq('.nvimlog', eval('$NVIM_LOG_FILE'))
     end)
   end)