diff --git a/client/djrandom_client/daemonize.py b/client/djrandom_client/daemonize.py
index 2f1ffb694846e2a1ff8be00a4863b105a1a23ce3..8fc1b29c7fa4d94661f0a553ef57f99371699df6 100644
--- a/client/djrandom_client/daemonize.py
+++ b/client/djrandom_client/daemonize.py
@@ -99,14 +99,14 @@ def daemonize(opts, main_function, args, support_gevent=False):
         sys.exit(1)
 
     if opts.username:
-        os.chown(opts.pidfile, user_pw.pw_uid, user_pw.pw_gid)
         try:
             user_pw = pwd.getpwnam(opts.username)
-            os.setuid(user_pw.pw_uid)
         except KeyError:
             sys.stderr.write(
                 'Error: could not find user "%s"\n' % opts.username)
             sys.exit(1)
+        os.chown(opts.pidfile, user_pw.pw_uid, user_pw.pw_gid)
+        os.setuid(user_pw.pw_uid)
 
     if support_gevent:
         import gevent