diff --git a/tools/libxl/libxl.c b/tools/libxl/libxl.c
index 0de11122b0..b89b7f4e0d 100644
--- a/tools/libxl/libxl.c
+++ b/tools/libxl/libxl.c
@@ -25,7 +25,6 @@ int libxl_ctx_alloc(libxl_ctx **pctx, int version,
                     unsigned flags, xentoollog_logger * lg)
 {
     libxl_ctx *ctx = NULL;
-    struct stat stat_buf;
     int rc;
 
     if (version != LIBXL_VERSION) { rc = ERROR_VERSION; goto out; }
@@ -82,12 +81,6 @@ int libxl_ctx_alloc(libxl_ctx **pctx, int version,
     rc = libxl__poller_init(ctx, &ctx->poller_app);
     if (rc) goto out;
 
-    if ( stat(XENSTORE_PID_FILE, &stat_buf) != 0 ) {
-        LIBXL__LOG_ERRNO(ctx, LIBXL__LOG_ERROR, "Is xenstore daemon running?\n"
-                     "failed to stat %s", XENSTORE_PID_FILE);
-        rc = ERROR_FAIL; goto out;
-    }
-
     ctx->xch = xc_interface_open(lg,lg,0);
     if (!ctx->xch) {
         LIBXL__LOG_ERRNOVAL(ctx, LIBXL__LOG_ERROR, errno,
diff --git a/tools/libxl/libxl_internal.h b/tools/libxl/libxl_internal.h
index cff35183f3..670234bfa6 100644
--- a/tools/libxl/libxl_internal.h
+++ b/tools/libxl/libxl_internal.h
@@ -378,7 +378,6 @@ typedef struct {
 #define PCI_SLOT(devfn)         (((devfn) >> 3) & 0x1f)
 #define PCI_FUNC(devfn)         ((devfn) & 0x07)
 #define AUTO_PHP_SLOT          0x100
-#define XENSTORE_PID_FILE      "/var/run/xenstored.pid"
 
 #define PROC_PCI_NUM_RESOURCES 7
 #define PCI_BAR_IO             0x01