diff --git a/src/index.ts b/src/index.ts
index fe3dc0b..1ded54c 100644
--- a/src/index.ts
+++ b/src/index.ts
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ import { INotebookTracker, NotebookPanel } from '@jupyterlab/notebook';
 
 import { Kernel, KernelMessage } from '@jupyterlab/services';
 
-import { DaskDashboardLauncher } from './widget';
+import { DaskDashboardLauncher, normalizeDashboardUrl } from './widget';
 
 import '../style/index.css';
 
@@ -25,12 +25,14 @@ namespace CommandIDs {
   export const launchPanel = 'dask:launch-dashboard';
 }
 
+const PLUGIN_ID = 'dask-labextension:plugin';
+
 /**
  * The dask dashboard extension.
  */
 const plugin: JupyterLabPlugin<void> = {
   activate,
-  id: 'jupyterlab-dask:plugin',
+  id: PLUGIN_ID,
   requires: [
     IConsoleTracker,
     ILayoutRestorer,
@@ -134,22 +136,20 @@ function activate(
   });
 
   // Fetch the initial state of the settings.
-  Promise.all([
-    settings.load('jupyterlab-dask:plugin'),
-    state.fetch(id),
-    app.restored
-  ]).then(res => {
-    const settings = res[0];
-    const url = (res[1] as { url: string }).url as string;
-    if (url) {
-      // If there is a URL in the statedb, let it have priority.
-      dashboardLauncher.input.url = url;
-      return;
+  Promise.all([settings.load(PLUGIN_ID), state.fetch(id), app.restored]).then(
+    res => {
+      const settings = res[0];
+      const url = (res[1] as { url: string }).url as string;
+      if (url) {
+        // If there is a URL in the statedb, let it have priority.
+        dashboardLauncher.input.url = url;
+        return;
+      }
+      // Otherwise set the default from the settings.
+      dashboardLauncher.input.url = settings.get('defaultURL')
+        .composite as string;
     }
-    // Otherwise set the default from the settings.
-    dashboardLauncher.input.url = settings.get('defaultURL')
-      .composite as string;
-  });
+  );
 
   // Add the command for launching a new dashboard item.
   app.commands.addCommand(CommandIDs.launchPanel, {
@@ -158,7 +158,7 @@ function activate(
     execute: args => {
       // Construct the url for the dashboard.
       const valid = dashboardLauncher.input.isValid;
-      const baseUrl = dashboardLauncher.input.url;
+      const baseUrl = normalizeDashboardUrl(dashboardLauncher.input.url);
       const route = (args['route'] as string) || '';
       const url = valid ? URLExt.join(baseUrl, route) : '';
 
diff --git a/src/widget.tsx b/src/widget.tsx
index 7d2e534..c1b4899 100644
--- a/src/widget.tsx
+++ b/src/widget.tsx
@@ -407,6 +407,19 @@ export namespace DaskDashboardLauncher {
   ];
 }
 
+/**
+ * Optionally remove a `status` route from a dashboard url.
+ */
+export function normalizeDashboardUrl(url: string): string {
+  if (url.endsWith('status')) {
+    return url.slice(0, -'status'.length);
+  }
+  if (url.endsWith('status/')) {
+    return url.slice(0, -'status/'.length);
+  }
+  return url;
+}
+
 /**
  * A namespace for private functionality.
  */
@@ -415,6 +428,7 @@ namespace Private {
    * Test whether a given URL hosts a dask dashboard.
    */
   export function testDaskDashboard(url: string): Promise<boolean> {
+    url = normalizeDashboardUrl(url);
     return new Promise<boolean>(resolve => {
       // Hack Alert! We would like to test whether a given URL is actually
       // a dask dashboard, since we will be iframe-ing it sight-unseen.