diff --git a/startx.cpp b/startx.cpp
index 3ab9a26..fe21fb3 100644
--- a/startx.cpp
+++ b/startx.cpp
@@ -281,7 +281,7 @@ if [ x"$enable_xauth" = x1 ] ; then
     dummy=0
 
     XCOMM create a file with auth information for the server. ':0' is a dummy.
-    xserverauthfile=`mktemp ${HOME}/.serverauth.XXXXXXXXXX`
+    xserverauthfile=`mktemp -p /tmp serverauth.XXXXXXXXXX`
     trap "rm -f '$xserverauthfile'" HUP INT QUIT ILL TRAP KILL BUS TERM
     xauth -q -f "$xserverauthfile" << EOF
 add :$dummy . $mcookie