diff --git a/util/qemu-sockets.c b/util/qemu-sockets.c
index 87c9bc6c68fb5a9064445d69459f4d25393b4ae0..22c8c4c5d566d251ed085005b180216f3d59fe01 100644
--- a/util/qemu-sockets.c
+++ b/util/qemu-sockets.c
@@ -729,7 +729,12 @@ int unix_listen_opts(QemuOpts *opts, Error **errp)
         qemu_opt_set(opts, "path", un.sun_path, &error_abort);
     }
 
-    unlink(un.sun_path);
+    if ((access(un.sun_path, F_OK) == 0) &&
+        unlink(un.sun_path) < 0) {
+        error_setg_errno(errp, errno,
+                         "Failed to unlink socket %s", un.sun_path);
+        goto err;
+    }
     if (bind(sock, (struct sockaddr*) &un, sizeof(un)) < 0) {
         error_setg_errno(errp, errno, "Failed to bind socket to %s", un.sun_path);
         goto err;