diff --git a/src/monitor/monitor.c b/src/monitor/monitor.c
index a080870..5cd451c 100644
--- a/src/monitor/monitor.c
+++ b/src/monitor/monitor.c
@@ -1447,7 +1447,7 @@ static int monitor_cleanup(void)
 
     errno = 0;
     ret = unlink(SSSD_PIDFILE);
-    if (ret == -1) {
+    if (ret == -1 && errno != ENOENT) {
         ret = errno;
         DEBUG(SSSDBG_FATAL_FAILURE,
               "Error removing pidfile! (%d [%s])\n", ret, strerror(ret));
@@ -2620,12 +2620,14 @@ int main(int argc, const char *argv[])
     }
 
     /* Check if the SSSD is already running */
-    ret = check_file(SSSD_PIDFILE, 0, 0, S_IFREG|0600, 0, NULL, false);
-    if (ret == EOK) {
-        DEBUG(SSSDBG_FATAL_FAILURE,
-              "pidfile exists at %s\n", SSSD_PIDFILE);
-        ERROR("SSSD is already running\n");
-        return 2;
+    if (!opt_interactive) {
+        ret = check_file(SSSD_PIDFILE, 0, 0, S_IFREG|0600, 0, NULL, false);
+        if (ret == EOK) {
+            DEBUG(SSSDBG_FATAL_FAILURE,
+                  "pidfile exists at %s\n", SSSD_PIDFILE);
+            ERROR("SSSD is already running\n");
+            return 2;
+        }
     }
 
     /* Parse config file, fail if cannot be done */