diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index a93bcb5c5..6eed4c58e 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,10 @@
+2007-09-20  Dan Williams  <dcbw@redhat.com>
+
+	* src/nm-manager.h
+	  src/nm-device.c
+		- (nm_device_activate): actually check if a given connection
+			exists before assuming it doesn't
+
 2007-09-20  Tambet Ingo  <tambet@gmail.com>
 
 	* libnm-util/nm-connection.c (register_default_creators): Use defined
diff --git a/src/nm-device.c b/src/nm-device.c
index eb1640d99..70c099b22 100644
--- a/src/nm-device.c
+++ b/src/nm-device.c
@@ -1221,6 +1221,21 @@ nm_device_activate (NMDeviceInterface *device,
 		g_return_if_fail (connection_path == NULL);
 	}
 
+	if (!connection) {
+		NMManager *mgr = nm_manager_get ();
+		NMConnectionType type = NM_CONNECTION_TYPE_UNKNOWN;
+
+		if (!strcmp (service_name, NM_DBUS_SERVICE_USER_SETTINGS))
+			type = NM_CONNECTION_TYPE_USER;
+		else if (!strcmp (service_name, NM_DBUS_SERVICE_SYSTEM_SETTINGS))
+			type = NM_CONNECTION_TYPE_SYSTEM;
+
+		if (type != NM_CONNECTION_TYPE_UNKNOWN)
+			connection = nm_manager_get_connection_by_object_path (mgr, type, connection_path);
+
+		g_object_unref (mgr);
+	}
+
 	nm_info ("Activating device %s", nm_device_get_iface (self));
 	if (connection) {
 		if (device_activation_precheck (self, connection) == FALSE)
diff --git a/src/nm-manager.h b/src/nm-manager.h
index e548ff727..8f1415eaf 100644
--- a/src/nm-manager.h
+++ b/src/nm-manager.h
@@ -55,7 +55,8 @@ void nm_manager_sleep (NMManager *manager, gboolean sleep);
 
 /* Connections */
 typedef enum {
-	NM_CONNECTION_TYPE_SYSTEM = 0,
+	NM_CONNECTION_TYPE_UNKNOWN = 0,
+	NM_CONNECTION_TYPE_SYSTEM,
 	NM_CONNECTION_TYPE_USER,
 } NMConnectionType;