diff --git a/src/Umbraco.Core/Components/CompositionExtensions.cs b/src/Umbraco.Core/Components/CompositionExtensions.cs
index abc0fa3862..1bbb3faff0 100644
--- a/src/Umbraco.Core/Components/CompositionExtensions.cs
+++ b/src/Umbraco.Core/Components/CompositionExtensions.cs
@@ -172,16 +172,23 @@ namespace Umbraco.Core.Components
             composition.Container.RegisterSingleton(_ => registrar);
         }
 
-        /// <summary>
-        /// Sets the server messenger.
-        /// </summary>
-        /// <typeparam name="T">The type of the server registrar.</typeparam>
-        /// <param name="composition">The composition.</param>
-        public static void SetServerMessenger<T>(this Composition composition)
-            where T : IServerMessenger
-        {
-            composition.Container.Register<IServerMessenger, T>(Lifetime.Singleton);
-        }
+
+        // review since only one is called in the core for now, I remove this
+        // it allows us to wrap the factory to "allow re-registration".
+        ///// <summary>
+        ///// Sets the server messenger.
+        ///// </summary>
+        ///// <typeparam name="T">The type of the server registrar.</typeparam>
+        ///// <param name="composition">The composition.</param>
+        //public static void SetServerMessenger<T>(this Composition composition)
+        //    where T : IServerMessenger
+        //{
+        //    composition.Container.Register<IServerMessenger, T>(Lifetime.Singleton);
+        //}
+
+        private static Func<IContainer, IServerMessenger> serverMessengerFactory = null;
+        private static bool serverMessengerIsRegistered = false;
+        private static Func<IContainer, IServerMessenger> wrappedServerMessengerFactory = c => serverMessengerFactory(c);
 
         /// <summary>
         /// Sets the server messenger.
@@ -190,7 +197,13 @@ namespace Umbraco.Core.Components
         /// <param name="factory">A function creating a server messenger.</param>
         public static void SetServerMessenger(this Composition composition, Func<IContainer, IServerMessenger> factory)
         {
-            composition.Container.RegisterSingleton(factory);
+            if (!serverMessengerIsRegistered)
+            {
+                serverMessengerIsRegistered = true;
+                composition.Container.RegisterSingleton(wrappedServerMessengerFactory);
+            }
+
+            serverMessengerFactory = factory;
         }
 
         /// <summary>
@@ -200,7 +213,13 @@ namespace Umbraco.Core.Components
         /// <param name="registrar">A server messenger.</param>
         public static void SetServerMessenger(this Composition composition, IServerMessenger registrar)
         {
-            composition.Container.RegisterSingleton(_ => registrar);
+            if (!serverMessengerIsRegistered)
+            {
+                serverMessengerIsRegistered = true;
+                composition.Container.RegisterSingleton(wrappedServerMessengerFactory);
+            }
+
+            serverMessengerFactory = c => registrar;
         }
 
         /// <summary>
diff --git a/src/Umbraco.Core/Runtime/CoreRuntimeComponent.cs b/src/Umbraco.Core/Runtime/CoreRuntimeComponent.cs
index 9d7c3e5a6a..ae9955706c 100644
--- a/src/Umbraco.Core/Runtime/CoreRuntimeComponent.cs
+++ b/src/Umbraco.Core/Runtime/CoreRuntimeComponent.cs
@@ -74,7 +74,8 @@ namespace Umbraco.Core.Runtime
             // by default we'll use the database server messenger with default options (no callbacks),
             // this will be overridden by either the legacy thing or the db thing in the corresponding
             // components in the web project - fixme - should obsolete the legacy thing
-            composition.Container.RegisterSingleton<IServerMessenger>(factory
+            composition.SetServerMessenger(
+                factory
                 => new DatabaseServerMessenger(
                     factory.GetInstance<IRuntimeState>(),
                     factory.GetInstance<IScopeProvider>(),