diff --git a/lib/utils.pm b/lib/utils.pm
index cfdba196..631cfaab 100644
--- a/lib/utils.pm
+++ b/lib/utils.pm
@@ -856,6 +856,9 @@ sub check_desktop {
         @_
     );
     assert_screen "apps_menu_button", $args{timeout};
+    # GNOME 40 starts on the overview by default; for consistency with
+    # older GNOME and KDE, let's just close it
+    send_key "alt-f1" if match_has_tag "apps_menu_button_active";
 }
 
 sub download_modularity_tests {
diff --git a/needles/gnome/apps_menu_button_active-20210304.json b/needles/gnome/apps_menu_button_active-20210304.json
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..afa867c1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/needles/gnome/apps_menu_button_active-20210304.json
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+{
+  "area": [
+    {
+      "height": 15,
+      "ypos": 9,
+      "xpos": 15,
+      "width": 67,
+      "type": "match"
+    }
+  ],
+  "properties": [],
+  "tags": [
+    "DESKTOP-gnome",
+    "ENV-DISTRI-fedora",
+    "LANGUAGE-english",
+    "apps_menu_button",
+    "apps_menu_button_active"
+  ]
+}
diff --git a/needles/gnome/apps_menu_button_active-20210304.png b/needles/gnome/apps_menu_button_active-20210304.png
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..234ede2e
Binary files /dev/null and b/needles/gnome/apps_menu_button_active-20210304.png differ
diff --git a/needles/gnome/login_gdm_input-20210304.json b/needles/gnome/login_gdm_input-20210304.json
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..25aa0cd4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/needles/gnome/login_gdm_input-20210304.json
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+{
+  "area": [
+    {
+      "type": "match",
+      "width": 56,
+      "ypos": 422,
+      "height": 41,
+      "xpos": 402
+    }
+  ],
+  "properties": [],
+  "tags": [
+    "graphical_login_input",
+    "DESKTOP-gnome",
+    "LANGUAGE-english"
+  ]
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/needles/gnome/login_gdm_input-20210304.png b/needles/gnome/login_gdm_input-20210304.png
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..4202e5c3
Binary files /dev/null and b/needles/gnome/login_gdm_input-20210304.png differ
diff --git a/tests/_boot_to_anaconda.pm b/tests/_boot_to_anaconda.pm
index b36290e9..806bd64e 100644
--- a/tests/_boot_to_anaconda.pm
+++ b/tests/_boot_to_anaconda.pm
@@ -113,7 +113,9 @@ sub run {
         else {
             # on lives, we have to explicitly launch anaconda
             if (get_var('LIVE')) {
-                assert_and_click("live_start_anaconda_icon", timeout=>300);
+                assert_screen ["live_start_anaconda_icon", "apps_menu_button_active"], 300;
+                send_key "alt-f1" if match_has_tag "apps_menu_button_active";
+                assert_and_click("live_start_anaconda_icon");
                 unless (check_screen "anaconda_select_install_lang", 180) {
                     # click it again - on KDE since 2019-10 or so it seems
                     # like the first attempt sometimes just doesn't work