diff --git a/tests/ftpserver.pl b/tests/ftpserver.pl
index 6c8969745ea0d366632ce0441a36328a8bab632e..3aed88b594efa02ac6b1dadfffbc8716a28ae844 100644
--- a/tests/ftpserver.pl
+++ b/tests/ftpserver.pl
@@ -128,11 +128,12 @@ sub startsf {
     open(STDOUT, ">&SFWRITE")   || die "can't dup client to stdout";
 }
 
-startsf();
+# remove the file here so that if startsf() fails, it is very noticable 
+unlink(".ftp$ftpdnum.pid");
 
-logmsg sprintf("FTP server started on port IPv%d/$port\n",
-               $ipv6?6:4);
+startsf();
 
+logmsg sprintf("FTP server started on port IPv%d/$port\n", $ipv6?6:4);
 open(PID, ">.ftp$ftpdnum.pid");
 print PID $$;
 close(PID);