diff --git a/zerver/views/__init__.py b/zerver/views/__init__.py
index 3e5d499e33..24ba1f43e4 100644
--- a/zerver/views/__init__.py
+++ b/zerver/views/__init__.py
@@ -729,6 +729,10 @@ def home(request):
     patch_cache_control(response, no_cache=True, no_store=True, must_revalidate=True)
     return response
 
+@login_required(login_url = settings.HOME_NOT_LOGGED_IN)
+def desktop_home(request):
+    return HttpResponseRedirect(reverse('zerver.views.home'))
+
 def is_buggy_ua(agent):
     """Discrimiate CSS served to clients based on User Agent
 
diff --git a/zproject/urls.py b/zproject/urls.py
index e0f18faaf3..4ca94dc1e5 100644
--- a/zproject/urls.py
+++ b/zproject/urls.py
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ urlpatterns = patterns('',
     url(r'^$', 'zerver.views.home'),
     # We have a desktop-specific landing page in case we change our / to not log in in the future. We don't
     # want to require a new desktop app build for everyone in that case
-    url(r'^desktop_home/$', 'zerver.views.home'),
+    url(r'^desktop_home/$', 'zerver.views.desktop_home'),
 
     url(r'^accounts/login/openid/$', 'django_openid_auth.views.login_begin', name='openid-login'),
     url(r'^accounts/login/openid/done/$', 'zerver.views.process_openid_login', name='openid-complete'),