diff --git a/wgengine/magicsock/relaymanager.go b/wgengine/magicsock/relaymanager.go
index 5cb43cd85..fd3f19dfb 100644
--- a/wgengine/magicsock/relaymanager.go
+++ b/wgengine/magicsock/relaymanager.go
@@ -206,7 +206,7 @@ func (r *relayManager) init() {
 		r.newServerEndpointCh = make(chan newRelayServerEndpointEvent)
 		r.rxHandshakeDiscoMsgCh = make(chan relayHandshakeDiscoMsgEvent)
 		r.runLoopStoppedCh = make(chan struct{}, 1)
-		go r.runLoop()
+		r.runLoopStoppedCh <- struct{}{}
 	})
 }