diff --git a/packages/react/src/floating-ui-react/components/FloatingFocusManager.test.tsx b/packages/react/src/floating-ui-react/components/FloatingFocusManager.test.tsx
index 9708e2e0249..d923e7ec5ad 100644
--- a/packages/react/src/floating-ui-react/components/FloatingFocusManager.test.tsx
+++ b/packages/react/src/floating-ui-react/components/FloatingFocusManager.test.tsx
@@ -1921,7 +1921,7 @@ describe('FloatingFocusManager', () => {
       expect(screen.getByTestId('reference')).not.toHaveFocus();
     });
 
-    test('uses aria-hidden instead of inert on outside nodes if opened with hover and modal=true', async () => {
+    test('uses both aria-hidden and inert on outside nodes if opened with hover and modal=true', async () => {
       function App() {
         const [isOpen, setIsOpen] = React.useState(false);
 
@@ -1952,7 +1952,7 @@ describe('FloatingFocusManager', () => {
       await userEvent.hover(screen.getByTestId('reference'));
       await flushMicrotasks();
 
-      expect(screen.getByText('outside')).not.toHaveAttribute('inert');
+      expect(screen.getByText('outside')).toHaveAttribute('inert');
       expect(screen.getByText('outside')).toHaveAttribute('aria-hidden', 'true');
     });
 
diff --git a/packages/react/src/floating-ui-react/components/FloatingFocusManager.tsx b/packages/react/src/floating-ui-react/components/FloatingFocusManager.tsx
index 82ea513270c..415d528589e 100644
--- a/packages/react/src/floating-ui-react/components/FloatingFocusManager.tsx
+++ b/packages/react/src/floating-ui-react/components/FloatingFocusManager.tsx
@@ -629,12 +629,18 @@ export function FloatingFocusManager(props: FloatingFocusManagerProps): React.JS
       mark: false,
     });
 
+    const inertCleanup = markOthers(insideElements, {
+      inert: modal && !isUntrappedTypeableCombobox,
+      mark: false,
+    });
+
     const markerInsideElements = [floating, ...portalNodes].filter((x): x is Element => x != null);
     const markerCleanup = markOthers(markerInsideElements);
 
     return () => {
       markerCleanup();
       ariaHiddenCleanup();
+      inertCleanup();
     };
   }, [
     open,
diff --git a/packages/react/src/floating-ui-react/utils/markOthers.test.ts b/packages/react/src/floating-ui-react/utils/markOthers.test.ts
index 1997f1862ea..20910f7e7f2 100644
--- a/packages/react/src/floating-ui-react/utils/markOthers.test.ts
+++ b/packages/react/src/floating-ui-react/utils/markOthers.test.ts
@@ -400,3 +400,26 @@ test('uses shadow root host as avoid element when parent chain includes anchor',
 
   expect(outside.getAttribute('aria-hidden')).toBe(null);
 });
+
+
+test('marks background focus guards as inert but preserves active ones', () => {
+  const root = document.createElement('div');
+  const inside = document.createElement('div');
+  const focusGuardOutside = document.createElement('span');
+  const focusGuardInside = document.createElement('span');
+
+  focusGuardOutside.setAttribute('data-base-ui-focus-guard', '');
+  focusGuardInside.setAttribute('data-base-ui-focus-guard', '');
+
+  root.appendChild(inside);
+  root.appendChild(focusGuardOutside);
+  inside.appendChild(focusGuardInside);
+  document.body.appendChild(root);
+
+  markOthers([inside, focusGuardInside], { inert: true });
+
+  expect(focusGuardOutside).toHaveAttribute('inert');
+  expect(focusGuardInside).not.toHaveAttribute('inert');
+
+  document.body.removeChild(root);
+});