diff --git a/hugolib/site.go b/hugolib/site.go
index d23a903856e..19821e8b2ee 100644
--- a/hugolib/site.go
+++ b/hugolib/site.go
@@ -1064,7 +1064,7 @@ func (s *Site) renderAndWritePage(statCounter *uint64, name string, targetPath s
 			pd.AbsURLPath = s.absURLPath(targetPath)
 		}
 
-		if s.watching() && s.conf.Internal.Watch && !s.conf.Internal.DisableLiveReload {
+		if s.watching() && s.conf.Internal.Running && !s.conf.Internal.DisableLiveReload {
 			pd.LiveReloadBaseURL = s.Conf.BaseURLLiveReload().URL()
 		}
 
diff --git a/testscripts/commands/hugo__watch.txt b/testscripts/commands/hugo__watch.txt
index b434bd112ad..aa5201c5666 100644
--- a/testscripts/commands/hugo__watch.txt
+++ b/testscripts/commands/hugo__watch.txt
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ grep 'P1start' public/p1/index.html
 replace content/p1.md 'P1start' 'P1end'
 sleep 2
 grep 'P1end' public/p1/index.html
+! grep 'livereload' public/p1/index.html
 
 stop