diff --git a/src/starter/confread.c b/src/starter/confread.c
index 3943f9abe..c3a0ac07f 100644
--- a/src/starter/confread.c
+++ b/src/starter/confread.c
@@ -50,17 +50,6 @@ static const char firewall_defaults[] = IPSEC_SCRIPT " _updown iptables";
  */
 extern kw_entry_t *in_word_set (char *str, unsigned int len);
 
-static bool daemon_exists(char *daemon, char *path)
-{
-	struct stat st;
-	if (stat(path, &st) != 0)
-	{
-		DBG1(DBG_APP, "Disabling %sstart option, '%s' not found", daemon, path);
-		return FALSE;
-	}
-	return TRUE;
-}
-
 /**
  * Process deprecated keywords
  */
@@ -147,10 +136,6 @@ static void load_setup(starter_config_t *cfg, conf_parser_t *parser)
 	}
 	enumerator->destroy(enumerator);
 	dict->destroy(dict);
-
-	/* verify the executables are actually available */
-	cfg->setup.charonstart = cfg->setup.charonstart &&
-							 daemon_exists(daemon_name, cmd);
 }
 
 /*
@@ -718,7 +703,6 @@ starter_config_t* confread_load(const char *file)
 	INIT(cfg,
 		.setup = {
 			.uniqueids = TRUE,
-			.charonstart = TRUE,
 		}
 	);
 
diff --git a/src/starter/confread.h b/src/starter/confread.h
index 0eea98849..457327f18 100644
--- a/src/starter/confread.h
+++ b/src/starter/confread.h
@@ -193,7 +193,6 @@ typedef struct starter_config starter_config_t;
 
 struct starter_config {
 		struct {
-				bool     charonstart;
 				char     *charondebug;
 				bool     uniqueids;
 				bool     cachecrls;
diff --git a/src/starter/starter.c b/src/starter/starter.c
index 74b5b5286..a19298923 100644
--- a/src/starter/starter.c
+++ b/src/starter/starter.c
@@ -517,6 +517,13 @@ int main (int argc, char **argv)
 		exit(status);
 	}
 
+	if (stat(cmd, &stb) != 0)
+	{
+		DBG1(DBG_APP, "IKE daemon '%s' not found", cmd);
+		cleanup();
+		exit(LSB_RC_FAILURE);
+	}
+
 	DBG1(DBG_APP, "Starting %sSwan "VERSION" IPsec [starter]...",
 		lib->settings->get_bool(lib->settings,
 			"charon.i_dont_care_about_security_and_use_aggressive_mode_psk",
@@ -836,7 +843,7 @@ int main (int argc, char **argv)
 		 */
 		if (_action_ & FLAG_ACTION_START_CHARON)
 		{
-			if (cfg->setup.charonstart && !starter_charon_pid())
+			if (!starter_charon_pid())
 			{
 				DBG2(DBG_APP, "Attempting to start %s...", daemon_name);
 				if (starter_start_charon(cfg, no_fork, attach_gdb))