diff --git a/qubes/ext/gui.py b/qubes/ext/gui.py
index a78aa82b8..01027c66b 100644
--- a/qubes/ext/gui.py
+++ b/qubes/ext/gui.py
@@ -159,6 +159,12 @@ def on_keyboard_reset(self, vm, event, name, oldvalue=None):
 
     @qubes.ext.handler("property-set:keyboard_layout")
     def on_keyboard_set(self, vm, event, name, newvalue, oldvalue=None):
+        if newvalue == oldvalue:
+            return
+
+        if vm.is_running():
+            vm.untrusted_qdb.write("/keyboard-layout", newvalue)
+
         for domain in vm.app.domains:
             if getattr(
                 domain, "guivm", None
@@ -169,9 +175,6 @@ def on_keyboard_set(self, vm, event, name, newvalue, oldvalue=None):
                     oldvalue=oldvalue,
                 )
 
-        if vm.is_running():
-            vm.untrusted_qdb.write("/keyboard-layout", newvalue)
-
     @qubes.ext.handler("domain-tag-add:created-by-*")
     def set_guivm_on_created_by(self, vm, event, tag, **kwargs):
         """Set GuiVM based on 'tag-created-vm-with' and 'set-created-guivm'