diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index cf610b59..c6b08ccd 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ install:
   - sudo apt-get install -y libcairo2-dev xmlto asciidoc libpango1.0-dev gperf luadoc libxcb-xtest0-dev libxcb-icccm4-dev libxcb-randr0-dev libxcb-keysyms1-dev libxcb-xinerama0-dev libxcb-image0-dev libev-dev libimlib2-dev libdbus-1-dev libxdg-basedir-dev libstartup-notification0-dev imagemagick libxcb1-dev libxcb-shape0-dev libxcb-util0-dev libxcursor-dev libx11-xcb-dev libxcb-cursor-dev libxcb-xkb-dev libxkbcommon-dev libxkbcommon-x11-dev
 
   # Deps for functional tests.
-  - sudo apt-get install -y dbus-x11 xterm xdotool xterm xvfb
+  - sudo apt-get install -y dbus-x11 xterm xdotool xterm xvfb rxvt-unicode
 
   # Install Lua (per env).
   - sudo apt-get install -y lib${LUANAME}-dev ${LUANAME} ${INSTALL_PKGS}
diff --git a/spawn.c b/spawn.c
index 2bba63e2..51830046 100644
--- a/spawn.c
+++ b/spawn.c
@@ -283,7 +283,14 @@ spawn_launchee_timeout(gpointer context)
 static void
 spawn_callback(gpointer user_data)
 {
+    SnLauncherContext *context = (SnLauncherContext *) user_data;
     setsid();
+
+    if (context)
+        sn_launcher_context_setup_child_process(context);
+    else
+        /* Unset in case awesome was already started with this variable set */
+        unsetenv("DESKTOP_STARTUP_ID");
 }
 
 /** Parse a command line.
@@ -400,11 +407,10 @@ luaA_spawn(lua_State *L)
         /* app will have AWESOME_SPAWN_TIMEOUT seconds to complete,
          * or the timeout function will terminate the launch sequence anyway */
         g_timeout_add_seconds(AWESOME_SPAWN_TIMEOUT, spawn_launchee_timeout, context);
-        sn_launcher_context_setup_child_process(context);
     }
 
     retval = g_spawn_async_with_pipes(NULL, argv, NULL, G_SPAWN_SEARCH_PATH,
-                                      spawn_callback, NULL, &pid,
+                                      spawn_callback, context, &pid,
                                       stdin_ptr, stdout_ptr, stderr_ptr, &error);
     g_strfreev(argv);
     if(!retval)
diff --git a/tests/test-spawn-snid.lua b/tests/test-spawn-snid.lua
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..87541583
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test-spawn-snid.lua
@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+--- Tests for spawn's startup notifications.
+
+local spawn = require("awful.spawn")
+
+local manage_called, c_snid
+
+client.connect_signal("manage", function(c)
+  manage_called = true
+  c_snid = c.startup_id
+end)
+
+
+local ret, snid
+local steps = {
+  function(count)
+    if count == 1 then
+      ret, snid = spawn('urxvt', true)
+    elseif manage_called then
+      local c = client.get()[1]
+      assert(ret)
+      assert(snid)
+      assert(snid == c_snid)
+      return true
+    end
+  end,
+
+  -- Test that c.startup_id is nil for a client without startup notifications,
+  -- and especially not the one from the previous spawn.
+  function(count)
+    if count == 1 then
+      manage_called = false
+      ret, snid = spawn('urxvt', false)
+    elseif manage_called then
+      assert(ret)
+      assert(snid == nil)
+      assert(c_snid == nil, "c.startup_snid should be nil!")
+      return true
+    end
+  end
+}
+
+require("_runner").run_steps(steps)