diff --git a/src/corelib/io/qprocess.cpp b/src/corelib/io/qprocess.cpp
index 1be108d0a7..96cec568df 100644
--- a/src/corelib/io/qprocess.cpp
+++ b/src/corelib/io/qprocess.cpp
@@ -1691,10 +1691,10 @@ QProcessEnvironment QProcess::processEnvironment() const
 bool QProcess::waitForStarted(int msecs)
 {
     Q_D(QProcess);
-    if (d->processState == QProcess::Running)
-        return true;
+    if (d->processState == QProcess::Starting)
+        return d->waitForStarted(msecs);
 
-    return d->waitForStarted(msecs);
+    return d->processState == QProcess::Running;
 }
 
 /*! \reimp
diff --git a/tests/auto/corelib/io/qprocess/tst_qprocess.cpp b/tests/auto/corelib/io/qprocess/tst_qprocess.cpp
index f2759dfd6e..7a3f6837f8 100644
--- a/tests/auto/corelib/io/qprocess/tst_qprocess.cpp
+++ b/tests/auto/corelib/io/qprocess/tst_qprocess.cpp
@@ -154,6 +154,7 @@ private slots:
     void invalidProgramString();
     void onlyOneStartedSignal();
     void finishProcessBeforeReadingDone();
+    void waitForStartedWithoutStart();
 
     // keep these at the end, since they use lots of processes and sometimes
     // caused obscure failures to occur in tests that followed them (esp. on the Mac)
@@ -2214,6 +2215,12 @@ void tst_QProcess::finishProcessBeforeReadingDone()
     QCOMPARE(lines.last(), QStringLiteral("10239 -this is a number"));
 }
 
+void tst_QProcess::waitForStartedWithoutStart()
+{
+    QProcess process;
+    QVERIFY(!process.waitForStarted(5000));
+}
+
 #endif //QT_NO_PROCESS
 
 QTEST_MAIN(tst_QProcess)