diff --git a/jetty-unixdomain-server/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/unixdomain/server/UnixDomainServerConnector.java b/jetty-unixdomain-server/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/unixdomain/server/UnixDomainServerConnector.java
index 9270ca3460e..3959c12b949 100644
--- a/jetty-unixdomain-server/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/unixdomain/server/UnixDomainServerConnector.java
+++ b/jetty-unixdomain-server/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/unixdomain/server/UnixDomainServerConnector.java
@@ -233,24 +233,37 @@ public class UnixDomainServerConnector extends AbstractConnector
         return serverChannel;
     }
 
-    private ServerSocketChannel bindServerSocketChannel()
+    private ServerSocketChannel bindServerSocketChannel() throws IOException
     {
+        Path unixDomainPath = getUnixDomainPath();
+
+        ServerSocketChannel serverChannel;
+        SocketAddress socketAddress;
         try
         {
             ProtocolFamily family = Enum.valueOf(StandardProtocolFamily.class, "UNIX");
             Class<?> channelClass = Class.forName("java.nio.channels.ServerSocketChannel");
-            ServerSocketChannel serverChannel = (ServerSocketChannel)channelClass.getMethod("open", ProtocolFamily.class).invoke(null, family);
+            serverChannel = (ServerSocketChannel)channelClass.getMethod("open", ProtocolFamily.class).invoke(null, family);
             // Unix-Domain does not support SO_REUSEADDR.
             Class<?> addressClass = Class.forName("java.net.UnixDomainSocketAddress");
-            SocketAddress socketAddress = (SocketAddress)addressClass.getMethod("of", Path.class).invoke(null, getUnixDomainPath());
-            serverChannel.bind(socketAddress, getAcceptQueueSize());
-            return serverChannel;
+            socketAddress = (SocketAddress)addressClass.getMethod("of", Path.class).invoke(null, unixDomainPath);
         }
         catch (Throwable x)
         {
             String message = "Unix-Domain SocketChannels are available starting from Java 16, your Java version is: " + JavaVersion.VERSION;
             throw new UnsupportedOperationException(message, x);
         }
+
+        try
+        {
+            serverChannel.bind(socketAddress, getAcceptQueueSize());
+            return serverChannel;
+        }
+        catch (IOException x)
+        {
+            String message = String.format("Could not bind %s to %s", UnixDomainServerConnector.class.getSimpleName(), unixDomainPath);
+            throw new IOException(message, x);
+        }
     }
 
     @Override
diff --git a/jetty-unixdomain-server/src/test/java/org/eclipse/jetty/unixdomain/server/UnixDomainTest.java b/jetty-unixdomain-server/src/test/java/org/eclipse/jetty/unixdomain/server/UnixDomainTest.java
index 0d17d609f2c..fa207073974 100644
--- a/jetty-unixdomain-server/src/test/java/org/eclipse/jetty/unixdomain/server/UnixDomainTest.java
+++ b/jetty-unixdomain-server/src/test/java/org/eclipse/jetty/unixdomain/server/UnixDomainTest.java
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@
 
 package org.eclipse.jetty.unixdomain.server;
 
+import java.io.IOException;
 import java.net.SocketAddress;
 import java.nio.file.Files;
 import java.nio.file.Path;
@@ -53,6 +54,7 @@ import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertDoesNotThrow;
 import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertEquals;
 import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertNotNull;
 import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertNull;
+import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertThrows;
 import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertTrue;
 
 @EnabledForJreRange(min = JRE.JAVA_16)
@@ -256,6 +258,16 @@ public class UnixDomainTest
         }
     }
 
+    @Test
+    public void testInvalidUnixDomainPath()
+    {
+        server = new Server();
+        UnixDomainServerConnector connector = new UnixDomainServerConnector(server, factories);
+        connector.setUnixDomainPath(Path.of("/does/not/exist"));
+        server.addConnector(connector);
+        assertThrows(IOException.class, () -> server.start());
+    }
+
     private static Path toUnixDomainPath(SocketAddress address)
     {
         try