diff --git a/lisp/tab-bar.el b/lisp/tab-bar.el
index 5a95e5975d..69746d5f84 100644
--- a/lisp/tab-bar.el
+++ b/lisp/tab-bar.el
@@ -236,18 +236,27 @@ tab-bar-show
 and show it again once more tabs are created.
 If nil, always keep the tab bar hidden.  In this case it's still
 possible to use persistent named window configurations by relying on
-keyboard commands `tab-new', `tab-close', `tab-next', `tab-switcher', etc."
+keyboard commands `tab-new', `tab-close', `tab-next', `tab-switcher', etc.
+
+Please customize this variable using the Customization UI, then
+it will automatically update the existing tab bars on each frame."
   :type '(choice (const :tag "Always" t)
                  (const :tag "When more than one tab" 1)
                  (const :tag "Never" nil))
   :initialize 'custom-initialize-default
   :set (lambda (sym val)
          (set-default sym val)
-         (tab-bar-mode
-          (if (or (eq val t)
-                  (and (natnump val)
-                       (> (length (funcall tab-bar-tabs-function)) val)))
-              1 -1)))
+         ;; Preload button images
+         (tab-bar-mode 1)
+         ;; Then handle each frame individually
+         (dolist (frame (frame-list))
+           (set-frame-parameter
+            frame 'tab-bar-lines
+            (if (or (eq val t)
+                    (and (natnump val)
+                         (> (length (funcall tab-bar-tabs-function frame))
+                            val)))
+                1 0))))
   :group 'tab-bar
   :version "27.1")