diff --git a/.emacs.d/lisp/main.el b/.emacs.d/lisp/main.el
index 6d5bbea3..68852e7c 100644
--- a/.emacs.d/lisp/main.el
+++ b/.emacs.d/lisp/main.el
@@ -280,7 +280,7 @@
 (setq inferior-lisp-program "clisp")
 
 ;; Let Emacs auto-load/save sessions.
-(when (and (fboundp 'server-running-p) (server-running-p))
+(when (getenv "EMACS_SERVER")
   (desktop-save-mode 1)
   (setq history-length 250)
   (setq desktop-dirname (concat emacs-cache-folder "desktop"))
diff --git a/.emacs.d/lisp/theme.el b/.emacs.d/lisp/theme.el
index 1dc7498a..391217b4 100644
--- a/.emacs.d/lisp/theme.el
+++ b/.emacs.d/lisp/theme.el
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@
       (set-face-bold-p      'error                       t))
 
 ;; Blinking cursor is on only when Emacs is not daemonized.
-(when (not (boundp 'server-running-p))
+(unless (getenv "EMACS_SERVER")
   (blink-cursor-mode -1))
 
 ;; Line numbers. Graphic version has a gray bar separating text from line
diff --git a/.scripts/em b/.scripts/em
index 90d01af4..0a00b1cf 100755
--- a/.scripts/em
+++ b/.scripts/em
@@ -13,6 +13,9 @@ Calling script can have different names.
 * emc: emacs instance is opened in current terminal.
 * emw: if graphical, tell client to wait.
 
+When starting the server, the EMACS_SERVER variable is set so that Emacs can
+know in its initialization file whether the server is going to be started.
+
 All emacsclient(1) options are supported.
 
 $(emacsclient --help)
@@ -32,5 +35,5 @@ else
 	fi
 fi
 
-[ ! -e /tmp/emacs$(id -u)/server ] && emacs --daemon --no-site-file
+[ ! -e /tmp/emacs$(id -u)/server ] && EMACS_SERVER=t emacs --daemon --no-site-file
 emacsclient $param "$@"