diff --git a/nixos/tests/common/user-account.nix b/nixos/tests/common/user-account.nix
index 9cd531a1f96..a57ee2d59ae 100644
--- a/nixos/tests/common/user-account.nix
+++ b/nixos/tests/common/user-account.nix
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
     { isNormalUser = true;
       description = "Alice Foobar";
       password = "foobar";
+      uid = 1000;
     };
 
   users.users.bob =
diff --git a/nixos/tests/gnome3-xorg.nix b/nixos/tests/gnome3-xorg.nix
index aa03501f6a5..f793bb922ad 100644
--- a/nixos/tests/gnome3-xorg.nix
+++ b/nixos/tests/gnome3-xorg.nix
@@ -1,41 +1,79 @@
-import ./make-test.nix ({ pkgs, ...} : {
+import ./make-test-python.nix ({ pkgs, ...} : {
   name = "gnome3-xorg";
   meta = with pkgs.stdenv.lib.maintainers; {
     maintainers = pkgs.gnome3.maintainers;
   };
 
-  machine =
-    { ... }:
+  machine = { nodes, ... }: let
+    user = nodes.machine.config.users.users.alice;
+  in
 
     { imports = [ ./common/user-account.nix ];
 
       services.xserver.enable = true;
 
-      services.xserver.displayManager.gdm.enable = false;
-      services.xserver.displayManager.lightdm.enable = true;
-      services.xserver.displayManager.lightdm.autoLogin.enable = true;
-      services.xserver.displayManager.lightdm.autoLogin.user = "alice";
+      services.xserver.displayManager.gdm = {
+        enable = true;
+        autoLogin = {
+          enable = true;
+          user = user.name;
+        };
+      };
+
       services.xserver.desktopManager.gnome3.enable = true;
       services.xserver.displayManager.defaultSession = "gnome-xorg";
 
       virtualisation.memorySize = 1024;
     };
 
-  testScript =
-    ''
-      $machine->waitForX;
+  testScript = { nodes, ... }: let
+    user = nodes.machine.config.users.users.alice;
+    uid = toString user.uid;
+    bus = "DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS=unix:path=/run/user/${uid}/bus";
+    xauthority = "/run/user/${uid}/gdm/Xauthority";
+    display = "DISPLAY=:0.0";
+    env = "${bus} XAUTHORITY=${xauthority} ${display}";
+    gdbus = "${env} gdbus";
+    su = command: "su - ${user.name} -c '${env} ${command}'";
 
-      # wait for alice to be logged in
-      $machine->waitForUnit("default.target","alice");
+    # Call javascript in gnome shell, returns a tuple (success, output), where
+    # `success` is true if the dbus call was successful and output is what the
+    # javascript evaluates to.
+    eval = "call --session -d org.gnome.Shell -o /org/gnome/Shell -m org.gnome.Shell.Eval";
 
-      # Check that logging in has given the user ownership of devices.
-      $machine->succeed("getfacl -p /dev/snd/timer | grep -q alice");
+    # False when startup is done
+    startingUp = su "${gdbus} ${eval} Main.layoutManager._startingUp";
 
-      $machine->succeed("su - alice -c 'DISPLAY=:0.0 gnome-terminal &'");
-      $machine->succeed("xauth merge ~alice/.Xauthority");
-      $machine->waitForWindow(qr/alice.*machine/);
-      $machine->succeed("timeout 900 bash -c 'while read msg; do if [[ \$msg =~ \"GNOME Shell started\" ]]; then break; fi; done < <(journalctl -f)'");
-      $machine->sleep(10);
-      $machine->screenshot("screen");
+    # Start gnome-terminal
+    gnomeTerminalCommand = su "gnome-terminal";
+
+    # Hopefully gnome-terminal's wm class
+    wmClass = su "${gdbus} ${eval} global.display.focus_window.wm_class";
+  in ''
+      with subtest("Login to GNOME Xorg with GDM"):
+          machine.wait_for_x()
+          # Wait for alice to be logged in"
+          machine.wait_for_unit("default.target", "${user.name}")
+          machine.wait_for_file("${xauthority}")
+          machine.succeed("xauth merge ${xauthority}")
+          # Check that logging in has given the user ownership of devices
+          assert "alice" in machine.succeed("getfacl -p /dev/snd/timer")
+
+      with subtest("Wait for GNOME Shell"):
+          # correct output should be (true, 'false')
+          machine.wait_until_succeeds(
+              "${startingUp} | grep -q 'true,..false'"
+          )
+
+      with subtest("Open Gnome Terminal"):
+          machine.succeed(
+              "${gnomeTerminalCommand}"
+          )
+          # correct output should be (true, '"Gnome-terminal"')
+          machine.wait_until_succeeds(
+              "${wmClass} | grep -q  'true,...Gnome-terminal'"
+          )
+          machine.sleep(20)
+          machine.screenshot("screen")
     '';
 })