diff --git a/src/udev/udevadm-settle.c b/src/udev/udevadm-settle.c
index 2404442fd7..50972847f2 100644
--- a/src/udev/udevadm-settle.c
+++ b/src/udev/udevadm-settle.c
@@ -176,21 +176,24 @@ int settle_main(int argc, char *argv[], void *userdata) {
 
         deadline = now(CLOCK_MONOTONIC) + arg_timeout;
 
-        /* guarantee that the udev daemon isn't pre-processing */
         if (getuid() == 0) {
                 _cleanup_(udev_ctrl_unrefp) UdevCtrl *uctrl = NULL;
 
-                if (udev_ctrl_new(&uctrl) >= 0) {
-                        r = udev_ctrl_send_ping(uctrl);
-                        if (r < 0) {
-                                log_debug_errno(r, "Failed to connect to udev daemon: %m");
-                                return 0;
-                        }
+                /* guarantee that the udev daemon isn't pre-processing */
 
-                        r = udev_ctrl_wait(uctrl, MAX(5 * USEC_PER_SEC, arg_timeout));
-                        if (r < 0)
-                                return log_error_errno(r, "Failed to wait for daemon to reply: %m");
+                r = udev_ctrl_new(&uctrl);
+                if (r < 0)
+                        return log_error_errno(r, "Failed to create control socket for udev daemon: %m");
+
+                r = udev_ctrl_send_ping(uctrl);
+                if (r < 0) {
+                        log_debug_errno(r, "Failed to connect to udev daemon, ignoring: %m");
+                        return 0;
                 }
+
+                r = udev_ctrl_wait(uctrl, MAX(5 * USEC_PER_SEC, arg_timeout));
+                if (r < 0)
+                        return log_error_errno(r, "Failed to wait for daemon to reply: %m");
         }
 
         fd = udev_queue_init();