diff --git a/NEWS.adoc b/NEWS.adoc
index 946530eaf8..711aab6d55 100644
--- a/NEWS.adoc
+++ b/NEWS.adoc
@@ -53,6 +53,10 @@ https://github.com/networkupstools/nut/milestone/10
      activity was completed by the hardware, which led to mis-processing of
      shutdown triggers. Also, notification was added to report "finished
      calibration". [issue #2168, PR #2169]
+   * Drivers running with non-default user account (e.g. with `user=root`
+     in their configuration) failed to apply group ownership and permissions
+     to their Unix socket file for interaction with the local data server.
+     [#2185, #2096]
 
  - nut-usbinfo.pl, nut-scanner and libnutscan:
    * USB VendorID:ProductID support list files generated by the script for
diff --git a/drivers/main.c b/drivers/main.c
index 919355fda9..4ae3fc08fd 100644
--- a/drivers/main.c
+++ b/drivers/main.c
@@ -2260,6 +2260,9 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
 			/* Use file descriptor, not name, to first check and then manipulate permissions:
 			 *   https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/367.html
 			 *   https://wiki.sei.cmu.edu/confluence/display/c/FIO01-C.+Be+careful+using+functions+that+use+file+names+for+identification
+			 * Alas, Unix sockets on most systems can not be open()ed
+			 * so there is no file descriptor to manipulate.
+			 * Fall back to name-based "les secure" operations then.
 			 */
 			TYPE_FD fd = ERROR_FD;
 
@@ -2275,8 +2278,8 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
 
 			if (grp == NULL) {
 				upsdebugx(1, "WARNING: could not resolve "
-					"group name '%s': %s",
-					group, strerror(errno)
+					"group name '%s' (%i): %s",
+					group, errno, strerror(errno)
 				);
 				allOk = 0;
 				goto sockname_ownership_finished;
@@ -2285,35 +2288,46 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
 				mode_t mode;
 
 				if (INVALID_FD((fd = open(sockname, O_RDWR | O_APPEND)))) {
-					upsdebugx(1, "WARNING: opening socket file for stat/chown failed: %s",
-						strerror(errno)
+					upsdebugx(1, "WARNING: opening socket file for stat/chown failed "
+						"(%i), which is rather typical for Unix socket handling: %s",
+						errno, strerror(errno)
 					);
 					allOk = 0;
-					/* Can not proceed with ops below */
-					goto sockname_ownership_finished;
 				}
 
-				if (fstat(fd, &statbuf)) {
-					upsdebugx(1, "WARNING: stat for chown failed: %s",
-						strerror(errno)
+				if ((VALID_FD(fd) && fstat(fd, &statbuf))
+				||  (INVALID_FD(fd) && stat(sockname, &statbuf))
+				) {
+					upsdebugx(1, "WARNING: stat for chown of socket file failed (%i): %s",
+						errno, strerror(errno)
 					);
 					allOk = 0;
+					if (INVALID_FD(fd)) {
+						/* Can not proceed with ops below */
+						goto sockname_ownership_finished;
+					}
 				} else {
+					/* Maybe open() and some stat() succeeed so far */
+					allOk = 1;
 					/* Here we do a portable chgrp() essentially: */
-					if (fchown(fd, statbuf.st_uid, grp->gr_gid)) {
-						upsdebugx(1, "WARNING: chown failed: %s",
-							strerror(errno)
+					if ((VALID_FD(fd) && fchown(fd, statbuf.st_uid, grp->gr_gid))
+					||  (INVALID_FD(fd) && chown(sockname, statbuf.st_uid, grp->gr_gid))
+					) {
+						upsdebugx(1, "WARNING: chown of socket file failed (%i): %s",
+							errno, strerror(errno)
 						);
 						allOk = 0;
 					}
 				}
 
 				/* Refresh file info */
-				if (fstat(fd, &statbuf)) {
+				if ((VALID_FD(fd) && fstat(fd, &statbuf))
+				||  (INVALID_FD(fd) && stat(sockname, &statbuf))
+				) {
 					/* Logically we'd fail chown above if file
 					 * does not exist or is not accessible */
-					upsdebugx(1, "WARNING: stat for chmod failed: %s",
-						strerror(errno)
+					upsdebugx(1, "WARNING: stat for chmod of socket file failed (%i): %s",
+						errno, strerror(errno)
 					);
 					allOk = 0;
 				} else {
@@ -2321,9 +2335,11 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
 					mode = statbuf.st_mode;
 					mode |= S_IWGRP;
 					mode |= S_IRGRP;
-					if (fchmod(fd, mode)) {
-						upsdebugx(1, "WARNING: chmod failed: %s",
-							strerror(errno)
+					if ((VALID_FD(fd) && fchmod(fd, mode))
+					|| (INVALID_FD(fd) && chmod(sockname, mode))
+					) {
+						upsdebugx(1, "WARNING: chmod of socket file failed (%i): %s",
+							errno, strerror(errno)
 						);
 						allOk = 0;
 					}
@@ -2331,13 +2347,10 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
 			}
 
 sockname_ownership_finished:
-			if (VALID_FD(fd)) {
-				close(fd);
-				fd = ERROR_FD;
-			}
-
 			if (allOk) {
-				upsdebugx(1, "Group access for this driver successfully fixed");
+				upsdebugx(1, "Group access for this driver successfully fixed "
+					"(using file %s based methods)",
+					VALID_FD(fd) ? "descriptor" : "name");
 			} else {
 				upsdebugx(0, "WARNING: Needed to fix group access "
 					"to filesystem socket of this driver, but failed; "
@@ -2347,6 +2360,11 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
 					"the device: %s",
 					sockname);
 			}
+
+			if (VALID_FD(fd)) {
+				close(fd);
+				fd = ERROR_FD;
+			}
 #else	/* not WIN32 */
 			upsdebugx(1, "Options for alternate user/group are not implemented on this platform");
 #endif	/* WIN32 */