diff --git a/log.c b/log.c
index eafaca2..bdd31b4 100644
--- a/log.c
+++ b/log.c
@@ -174,7 +174,7 @@ void passt_vsyslog(int pri, const char *format, va_list ap)
 	if (log_opt & LOG_PERROR)
 		fprintf(stderr, "%s", buf + prefix_len);
 
-	if (send(log_sock, buf, n, 0) != n)
+	if (log_sock >= 0 && send(log_sock, buf, n, 0) != n)
 		fprintf(stderr, "Failed to send %i bytes to syslog\n", n);
 }
 
diff --git a/passt.c b/passt.c
index f430648..59ab501 100644
--- a/passt.c
+++ b/passt.c
@@ -225,6 +225,8 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
 	strncpy(argv0, argv[0], PATH_MAX - 1);
 	name = basename(argv0);
 	if (strstr(name, "pasta")) {
+		__openlog(log_name = "pasta", LOG_PERROR, LOG_DAEMON);
+
 		sa.sa_handler = pasta_child_handler;
 		if (sigaction(SIGCHLD, &sa, NULL)) {
 			die("Couldn't install signal handlers: %s",
@@ -237,18 +239,16 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
 		}
 
 		c.mode = MODE_PASTA;
-		log_name = "pasta";
 	} else if (strstr(name, "passt")) {
+		__openlog(log_name = "passt", LOG_PERROR, LOG_DAEMON);
+
 		c.mode = MODE_PASST;
-		log_name = "passt";
 	} else {
 		exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
 	}
 
 	madvise(pkt_buf, TAP_BUF_BYTES, MADV_HUGEPAGE);
 
-	__openlog(log_name, 0, LOG_DAEMON);
-
 	c.epollfd = epoll_create1(EPOLL_CLOEXEC);
 	if (c.epollfd == -1) {
 		perror("epoll_create1");
@@ -269,9 +269,6 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
 	conf(&c, argc, argv);
 	trace_init(c.trace);
 
-	if (c.force_stderr || isatty(fileno(stdout)))
-		__openlog(log_name, LOG_PERROR, LOG_DAEMON);
-
 	pasta_netns_quit_init(&c);
 
 	tap_sock_init(&c);
@@ -314,6 +311,9 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
 	if (isolate_prefork(&c))
 		die("Failed to sandbox process, exiting");
 
+	if (!c.force_stderr && !isatty(fileno(stderr)))
+		__openlog(log_name, 0, LOG_DAEMON);
+
 	if (!c.foreground)
 		__daemon(pidfile_fd, devnull_fd);
 	else