diff --git a/vmm/src/api/http.rs b/vmm/src/api/http.rs
index 915e5a572..ded356ea9 100644
--- a/vmm/src/api/http.rs
+++ b/vmm/src/api/http.rs
@@ -261,6 +261,7 @@ pub fn start_http_thread(
 ) -> Result<thread::JoinHandle<Result<()>>> {
     std::fs::remove_file(path).unwrap_or_default();
     let socket_path = PathBuf::from(path);
+    let mut server = HttpServer::new(socket_path).map_err(Error::CreatingAPIServer)?;
 
     // Retrieve seccomp filter for API thread
     let api_seccomp_filter =
@@ -272,7 +273,6 @@ pub fn start_http_thread(
             // Apply seccomp filter for API thread.
             SeccompFilter::apply(api_seccomp_filter).map_err(Error::ApplySeccompFilter)?;
 
-            let mut server = HttpServer::new(socket_path).unwrap();
             server.start_server().unwrap();
             loop {
                 match server.requests() {
diff --git a/vmm/src/lib.rs b/vmm/src/lib.rs
index d3bfb9196..94205a241 100644
--- a/vmm/src/lib.rs
+++ b/vmm/src/lib.rs
@@ -140,6 +140,10 @@ pub enum Error {
     /// Error activating virtio devices
     #[error("Error activating virtio devices: {0:?}")]
     ActivateVirtioDevices(VmError),
+
+    /// Error creating API server
+    #[error("Error creating API server {0:?}")]
+    CreatingAPIServer(micro_http::ServerError),
 }
 pub type Result<T> = result::Result<T, Error>;