diff --git a/src/backend/access/transam/xlog.c b/src/backend/access/transam/xlog.c
index d6b5b05425..4aaa8fb748 100644
--- a/src/backend/access/transam/xlog.c
+++ b/src/backend/access/transam/xlog.c
@@ -7494,6 +7494,13 @@ StartupXLOG(void)
 		}
 	}
 
+	/*
+	 * Pre-scan prepared transactions to find out the range of XIDs present.
+	 * This information is not quite needed yet, but it is positioned here so
+	 * as potential problems are detected before any on-disk change is done.
+	 */
+	oldestActiveXID = PrescanPreparedTransactions(NULL, NULL);
+
 	/*
 	 * Consider whether we need to assign a new timeline ID.
 	 *
@@ -7548,6 +7555,24 @@ StartupXLOG(void)
 		else
 			snprintf(reason, sizeof(reason), "no recovery target specified");
 
+		/*
+		 * We are now done reading the old WAL.  Turn off archive fetching if
+		 * it was active, and make a writable copy of the last WAL segment.
+		 * (Note that we also have a copy of the last block of the old WAL in
+		 * readBuf; we will use that below.)
+		 */
+		exitArchiveRecovery(EndOfLogTLI, EndOfLog);
+
+		/*
+		 * Write the timeline history file, and have it archived. After this
+		 * point (or rather, as soon as the file is archived), the timeline
+		 * will appear as "taken" in the WAL archive and to any standby
+		 * servers.  If we crash before actually switching to the new
+		 * timeline, standby servers will nevertheless think that we switched
+		 * to the new timeline, and will try to connect to the new timeline.
+		 * To minimize the window for that, try to do as little as possible
+		 * between here and writing the end-of-recovery record.
+		 */
 		writeTimeLineHistory(ThisTimeLineID, recoveryTargetTLI,
 							 EndRecPtr, reason);
 	}
@@ -7556,15 +7581,6 @@ StartupXLOG(void)
 	XLogCtl->ThisTimeLineID = ThisTimeLineID;
 	XLogCtl->PrevTimeLineID = PrevTimeLineID;
 
-	/*
-	 * We are now done reading the old WAL.  Turn off archive fetching if it
-	 * was active, and make a writable copy of the last WAL segment. (Note
-	 * that we also have a copy of the last block of the old WAL in readBuf;
-	 * we will use that below.)
-	 */
-	if (ArchiveRecoveryRequested)
-		exitArchiveRecovery(EndOfLogTLI, EndOfLog);
-
 	/*
 	 * Prepare to write WAL starting at EndOfLog location, and init xlog
 	 * buffer cache using the block containing the last record from the
@@ -7617,9 +7633,6 @@ StartupXLOG(void)
 	XLogCtl->LogwrtRqst.Write = EndOfLog;
 	XLogCtl->LogwrtRqst.Flush = EndOfLog;
 
-	/* Pre-scan prepared transactions to find out the range of XIDs present */
-	oldestActiveXID = PrescanPreparedTransactions(NULL, NULL);
-
 	/*
 	 * Update full_page_writes in shared memory and write an XLOG_FPW_CHANGE
 	 * record before resource manager writes cleanup WAL records or checkpoint