diff --git a/src/applets/wpa_supplicant.c b/src/applets/wpa_supplicant.c
index 45ded4d..75ee2d0 100644
--- a/src/applets/wpa_supplicant.c
+++ b/src/applets/wpa_supplicant.c
@@ -219,6 +219,7 @@ static gboolean _init_timeout(gpointer data)
 		unlink(wpa->path);
 		return _wpa_error(wpa, wpa->path, TRUE);
 	}
+	unlink(wpa->path);
 	/* connect to the wpa_supplicant daemon */
 	memset(&ru, 0, sizeof(ru));
 	ru.sun_family = AF_UNIX;
@@ -383,8 +384,6 @@ static void _wpa_stop(WPA * wpa)
 	if(wpa->fd != -1 && close(wpa->fd) != 0)
 		wpa->helper->error(NULL, wpa->path, 1);
 	wpa->fd = -1;
-	if(unlink(wpa->path) != 0)
-		wpa->helper->error(NULL, wpa->path, 1);
 }