diff --git a/Makefile.am b/Makefile.am
index cc88b530..635b4aea 100644
--- a/Makefile.am
+++ b/Makefile.am
@@ -144,8 +144,6 @@ endif
 if INSTALL_SYSTEMV
 	getent group shairport-sync &>/dev/null || groupadd -r shairport-sync >/dev/null
 	getent passwd shairport-sync &> /dev/null || useradd -r -M -g shairport-sync -s /usr/bin/nologin -G audio shairport-sync >/dev/null
-	[ -e /var/run/shairport-sync ] || mkdir -p /var/run/shairport-sync
-	chown shairport-sync:shairport-sync /var/run/shairport-sync
 	[ -e $(DESTDIR)$(sysconfdir)/init.d ] || mkdir -p $(DESTDIR)$(sysconfdir)/init.d
 	[ -f $(DESTDIR)$(sysconfdir)/init.d/shairport-sync ] || cp scripts/shairport-sync $(DESTDIR)$(sysconfdir)/init.d/
 endif
diff --git a/scripts/shairport-sync.in b/scripts/shairport-sync.in
index e65e51e6..46d8c5fc 100755
--- a/scripts/shairport-sync.in
+++ b/scripts/shairport-sync.in
@@ -49,6 +49,7 @@ do_start()
 	#   0 if daemon has been started
 	#   1 if daemon was already running
 	#   2 if daemon could not be started
+        [ -e /var/run/shairport-sync ] || ( mkdir -p /var/run/shairport-sync && chown shairport-sync:shairport-sync /var/run/shairport-sync ) ; \
 	start-stop-daemon -c shairport-sync:shairport-sync --start --quiet --pidfile $PIDFILE --exec $DAEMON --test > /dev/null \
 		|| return 1