diff --git a/lix/libexec/unix-bind-connect.cc b/lix/libexec/unix-bind-connect.cc
index 0d6d8f022..8e5ddc95a 100644
--- a/lix/libexec/unix-bind-connect.cc
+++ b/lix/libexec/unix-bind-connect.cc
@@ -2,7 +2,17 @@
 #include <sys/socket.h>
 #include <sys/un.h>
 
-LIBEXEC_HELPER(4)
+LIBEXEC_HELPER(5)
+
+static int resultFd = -1;
+
+static void sendResult(int result)
+{
+    // NOTE posix says pipe writes smaller than PIPE_BUF must be atomic, so this either
+    // succeeds or fails (pipe bufs of four bytes make no sense at all for our systems)
+    int error = result;
+    DIE_UNLESS_SYS("writing result", ::write(resultFd, &error, sizeof(error)));
+}
 
 int helperMain(const char *, std::span<char *> args) noexcept
 {
@@ -10,8 +20,12 @@ int helperMain(const char *, std::span<char *> args) noexcept
     std::string_view method = args[1];
     const auto dir = args[2];
     const auto name = args[3];
+    resultFd = argToInt<int>("result-fd", args[4]);
 
-    DIE_UNLESS_SYS("chdir", chdir(dir));
+    if (chdir(dir)) {
+        sendResult(errno);
+        return 0;
+    }
 
     struct sockaddr_un addr;
     addr.sun_family = AF_UNIX;
@@ -23,9 +37,11 @@ int helperMain(const char *, std::span<char *> args) noexcept
     }
 
     if (method == "bind") {
-        DIE_UNLESS_SYS("bind", bind(socket, reinterpret_cast<struct sockaddr *>(&addr), sizeof(addr)));
+        auto result = bind(socket, reinterpret_cast<struct sockaddr *>(&addr), sizeof(addr)) ? errno : 0;
+        sendResult(result);
     } else if (method == "connect") {
-        DIE_UNLESS_SYS("connect", connect(socket, reinterpret_cast<struct sockaddr *>(&addr), sizeof(addr)));
+        auto result = connect(socket, reinterpret_cast<struct sockaddr *>(&addr), sizeof(addr)) ? errno : 0;
+        sendResult(result);
     } else {
         die(std::format("invalid method %s", method));
     }
diff --git a/lix/libstore/uds-remote-store.cc b/lix/libstore/uds-remote-store.cc
index fb76b0fae..1929aa50f 100644
--- a/lix/libstore/uds-remote-store.cc
+++ b/lix/libstore/uds-remote-store.cc
@@ -66,7 +66,9 @@ static void connectToFirstAvailableSocket(AutoCloseFD & sockFD, const std::list<
             nix::connect(sockFD.get(), socket);
             return;
         } catch (SysError & e) {
-            if (e.errNo == EACCES || e.errNo == EPERM || e.errNo == ECONNREFUSED || e.errNo == ENOENT) {
+            if (e.errNo == EACCES || e.errNo == EPERM || e.errNo == ECONNREFUSED || e.errNo == ENOENT
+                || e.errNo == ENOTDIR)
+            {
                 debug("skipping socket %s: %s", socket, strerror(e.errNo));
             } else {
                 throw;
diff --git a/lix/libutil/unix-domain-socket.cc b/lix/libutil/unix-domain-socket.cc
index 3adc601a2..9f098fffd 100644
--- a/lix/libutil/unix-domain-socket.cc
+++ b/lix/libutil/unix-domain-socket.cc
@@ -64,13 +64,35 @@ static void bindConnectProcHelper(
     // special case.
     auto * psaddr = reinterpret_cast<struct sockaddr *>(&addr);
 
+    Pipe resultFd;
+    resultFd.create();
+
     if (path.size() + 1 >= sizeof(addr.sun_path)) {
         runHelper(
             "unix-bind-connect",
             {.args =
-                 {std::to_string(fd), std::string(operationName), dirOf(path), std::string(baseNameOf(path))},
-             .redirections = {{.dup = fd, .from = fd}}}
+                 {
+                     std::to_string(fd),
+                     std::string(operationName),
+                     dirOf(path),
+                     std::string(baseNameOf(path)),
+                     std::to_string(resultFd.writeSide.get()),
+                 },
+             .redirections = {
+                 {.dup = fd, .from = fd},
+                 {.dup = resultFd.writeSide.get(), .from = resultFd.writeSide.get()},
+             }}
         ).waitAndCheck();
+        resultFd.writeSide.close();
+        auto resultRaw = drainFD(resultFd.readSide.get());
+        int result;
+        if (resultRaw.size() != sizeof(result)) {
+            throw Error("bind-connect helper returned bad result! bailing");
+        }
+        memcpy(&result, resultRaw.data(), sizeof(result));
+        if (result != 0) {
+            throw SysError(result, "cannot %s to socket at '%s'", operationName, path);
+        }
     } else {
         memcpy(addr.sun_path, path.c_str(), path.size() + 1);
         if (operation(fd, psaddr, sizeof(addr)) == -1)