diff --git a/src/main/java/org/cryptomator/ipc/Client.java b/src/main/java/org/cryptomator/ipc/Client.java
index ab20cf842..bdeabac2f 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/cryptomator/ipc/Client.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/cryptomator/ipc/Client.java
@@ -22,8 +22,6 @@ class Client implements IpcCommunicator {
 	}
 
 	public static Client create(Path socketPath) throws IOException {
-		// fail with NoSuchFileException early to prevent implicit creation of socket on Windows:
-		socketPath.getFileSystem().provider().checkAccess(socketPath);
 		var address = UnixDomainSocketAddress.of(socketPath);
 		var socketChannel = SocketChannel.open(address);
 		LOG.info("Connected to IPC server on UNIX socket {}", socketPath);
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/cryptomator/ipc/IpcCommunicator.java b/src/main/java/org/cryptomator/ipc/IpcCommunicator.java
index 8f34457a5..2679ac457 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/cryptomator/ipc/IpcCommunicator.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/cryptomator/ipc/IpcCommunicator.java
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
 
 import java.io.Closeable;
 import java.io.IOException;
+import java.nio.file.Files;
 import java.nio.file.Path;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.concurrent.Executor;
@@ -31,7 +32,9 @@ public interface IpcCommunicator extends Closeable {
 		Preconditions.checkArgument(socketPaths.iterator().hasNext(), "socketPaths must contain at least one element");
 		for (var p : socketPaths) {
 			try {
-				return Client.create(p);
+				if (Files.exists(p)) {
+					return Client.create(p);
+				}
 			} catch (IOException e) {
 				// attempt next socket path
 			}