diff --git a/common/asshelp.c b/common/asshelp.c
index 0152d1243..c2d342fb8 100644
--- a/common/asshelp.c
+++ b/common/asshelp.c
@@ -536,6 +536,7 @@ start_new_service (assuan_context_t *r_ctx,
           && assuan_socket_connect (ctx, sockname, 0, connect_flags))
         {
 #ifdef HAVE_W32_SYSTEM
+          gnupg_remove (sockname);
           err = gpgrt_process_spawn (program? program : program_name, argv,
                                      GPGRT_PROCESS_DETACHED, NULL, NULL);
 #else /*!W32*/

diff --git a/common/asshelp.c b/common/asshelp.c
index 0152d1243..33eb8f2b4 100644
--- a/common/asshelp.c
+++ b/common/asshelp.c
@@ -536,6 +536,7 @@ start_new_service (assuan_context_t *r_ctx,
           && assuan_socket_connect (ctx, sockname, 0, connect_flags))
         {
 #ifdef HAVE_W32_SYSTEM
+          gnupg_w32_delete_file (sockname);
           err = gpgrt_process_spawn (program? program : program_name, argv,
                                      GPGRT_PROCESS_DETACHED, NULL, NULL);
 #else /*!W32*/
diff --git a/common/sysutils.c b/common/sysutils.c
index 2e39d4737..daf446d52 100644
--- a/common/sysutils.c
+++ b/common/sysutils.c
@@ -980,8 +980,68 @@ w32_rename (const char *oldname, const char *newname)
   else
     return rename (oldname, newname);
 }
-#endif /*HAVE_W32_SYSTEM*/
 
+static int
+wait_when_sharing_violation (int wtime, const char *fname)
+{
+  int ec = GetLastError ();
+
+  if (ec != ERROR_SHARING_VIOLATION)
+    {
+      gnupg_w32_set_errno (-1);
+      return 0;
+    }
+
+  /* Another process has the file open.  We do not use a
+   * lock for read but instead we wait until the other
+   * process has closed the file.  This may take long but
+   * that would also be the case with a dotlock approach for
+   * read and write.  Note that we don't need this on Unix
+   * due to the inode concept.
+   *
+   * So let's wait until the file_op has worked.  The retry
+   * intervals are 50, 100, 200, 400, 800, 50ms, ...  */
+  if (!wtime || wtime >= 800)
+    wtime = 50;
+  else
+    wtime *= 2;
+
+  if (wtime >= 800)
+    log_info (_("waiting for file '%s' to become accessible ...\n"),
+              fname);
+
+  gnupg_usleep ((wtime + 999) / 1000);
+  return wtime;
+}
+
+
+void
+gnupg_w32_delete_file (const char *fname)
+{
+  wchar_t *wfname;
+  int wtime = 0;
+
+  wfname = utf8_to_wchar (fname);
+  if (!wfname)
+    return;
+
+ again:
+  if (DeleteFileW (wfname))
+    {
+      xfree (wfname);
+      return;
+    }
+
+  /* Failure of DeleteFileW.  */
+  if ((wtime = wait_when_sharing_violation (wtime, fname)))
+    goto again;
+
+  log_error ("failed to remove %s: %s\n", fname,
+             gpg_strerror (my_error_from_syserror ()));
+
+  xfree (wfname);
+}
+#endif /*HAVE_W32_SYSTEM*/
 
 /* Wrapper for rename(2) to handle Windows peculiarities.  If
  * BLOCK_SIGNALS is not NULL and points to a variable set to true, all
@@ -998,35 +1058,17 @@ gnupg_rename_file (const char *oldname, const char *newname, int *block_signals)
 
 #ifdef HAVE_DOSISH_SYSTEM
   {
-    int wtime = 0;
+    int wtime;
 
-    gnupg_remove (newname);
+    gnupg_remove (newname); /*FIXME: Also gnupg_w32_delete_file? */
+
+    wtime = 0;
   again:
     if (w32_rename (oldname, newname))
       {
-        if (GetLastError () == ERROR_SHARING_VIOLATION)
-          {
-            /* Another process has the file open.  We do not use a
-             * lock for read but instead we wait until the other
-             * process has closed the file.  This may take long but
-             * that would also be the case with a dotlock approach for
-             * read and write.  Note that we don't need this on Unix
-             * due to the inode concept.
-             *
-             * So let's wait until the rename has worked.  The retry
-             * intervals are 50, 100, 200, 400, 800, 50ms, ...  */
-            if (!wtime || wtime >= 800)
-              wtime = 50;
-            else
-              wtime *= 2;
-
-            if (wtime >= 800)
-              log_info (_("waiting for file '%s' to become accessible ...\n"),
-                        oldname);
-
-            Sleep (wtime);
-            goto again;
-          }
+        if ((wtime = wait_when_sharing_violation (wtime, oldname)))
+          goto again;
+
         err = my_error_from_syserror ();
       }
   }
diff --git a/common/sysutils.h b/common/sysutils.h
index c832c7932..c75e6eab8 100644
--- a/common/sysutils.h
+++ b/common/sysutils.h
@@ -126,6 +126,7 @@ void output_debug_string (const char *format, ...) GPGRT_ATTR_PRINTF(1,2);
 #ifdef HAVE_W32_SYSTEM
 int gnupg_w32_set_errno (int ec);
 void *w32_get_user_sid (void);
+void gnupg_w32_delete_file (const char *fname);
 
 #include "../common/w32help.h"