diff --git a/src/gp_init.c b/src/gp_init.c
index f65b881..3609d1d 100644
--- a/src/gp_init.c
+++ b/src/gp_init.c
@@ -153,6 +153,8 @@ static verto_ev *setup_socket(struct gssproxy_ctx *gpctx, char *sock_name,
     if (!sock_ctx) {
         /* no activation, try regular socket creation */
         sock_ctx = init_unix_socket(gpctx, sock_name);
+        /* no activation, no timeout */
+        gpctx->term_timeout = 0;
     }
     if (!sock_ctx) {
         return NULL;