diff --git a/app/vhost/vhost.c b/app/vhost/vhost.c
index 308b101c5..ecf48e520 100644
--- a/app/vhost/vhost.c
+++ b/app/vhost/vhost.c
@@ -44,7 +44,6 @@
 #define SPDK_VHOST_DEFAULT_ENABLE_COREDUMP true
 #define SPDK_VHOST_DEFAULT_MEM_SIZE 1024
 
-static const char *g_socket_path = NULL;
 static const char *g_pid_path = NULL;
 
 static void
@@ -86,7 +85,7 @@ vhost_parse_arg(int ch, char *arg)
 		g_pid_path = arg;
 		break;
 	case 'S':
-		g_socket_path = arg;
+		spdk_vhost_set_socket_path(arg);
 		break;
 	}
 }
@@ -110,7 +109,7 @@ main(int argc, char *argv[])
 	}
 
 	/* Blocks until the application is exiting */
-	rc = spdk_app_start(&opts, spdk_vhost_startup, (void *)g_socket_path, NULL);
+	rc = spdk_app_start(&opts, spdk_vhost_startup, NULL, NULL);
 
 	spdk_app_fini();
 
diff --git a/include/spdk/vhost.h b/include/spdk/vhost.h
index 409759cab..f7b0e73af 100644
--- a/include/spdk/vhost.h
+++ b/include/spdk/vhost.h
@@ -52,6 +52,17 @@ extern "C" {
  */
 typedef void (*spdk_vhost_fini_cb)(void);
 
+/**
+ * Set the path to the directory where vhost sockets will be created.
+ *
+ * This function must be called before spdk_vhost_init().
+ *
+ * \param basename Path to vhost socket directory
+ *
+ * \return 0 on success, negative errno on error.
+ */
+int spdk_vhost_set_socket_path(const char *basename);
+
 /**
  * Init vhost environment.
  *
@@ -69,7 +80,7 @@ void spdk_vhost_fini(spdk_vhost_fini_cb fini_cb);
 /**
  * Init vhost application. This is called once by SPDK app layer.
  *
- * \param arg1 optional path to directory where sockets will be created.
+ * \param arg1 unused.
  * \param arg2 unused.
  */
 void spdk_vhost_startup(void *arg1, void *arg2);
diff --git a/lib/vhost/vhost.c b/lib/vhost/vhost.c
index 7265acaab..70dc8af45 100644
--- a/lib/vhost/vhost.c
+++ b/lib/vhost/vhost.c
@@ -1097,17 +1097,16 @@ out:
 	return rc;
 }
 
-void
-spdk_vhost_startup(void *arg1, void *arg2)
+int
+spdk_vhost_set_socket_path(const char *basename)
 {
 	int ret;
-	const char *basename = arg1;
 
 	if (basename && strlen(basename) > 0) {
 		ret = snprintf(dev_dirname, sizeof(dev_dirname) - 2, "%s", basename);
 		if ((size_t)ret >= sizeof(dev_dirname) - 2) {
 			SPDK_ERRLOG("Char dev dir path length %d is too long\n", ret);
-			goto out;
+			return -EINVAL;
 		}
 
 		if (dev_dirname[ret - 1] != '/') {
@@ -1116,6 +1115,14 @@ spdk_vhost_startup(void *arg1, void *arg2)
 		}
 	}
 
+	return 0;
+}
+
+void
+spdk_vhost_startup(void *arg1, void *arg2)
+{
+	int ret;
+
 	ret = spdk_vhost_scsi_controller_construct();
 	if (ret != 0) {
 		SPDK_ERRLOG("Cannot construct vhost controllers\n");