diff --git a/bin/vmail-mboxes-add.sh b/bin/vmail-mboxes-add.sh
index f3e586a..e2dcca4 100755
--- a/bin/vmail-mboxes-add.sh
+++ b/bin/vmail-mboxes-add.sh
@@ -85,7 +85,7 @@ rowcount=`mysql --defaults-extra-file=$MYSQL_CONNECTION_INFO_FILE -s -r -N -e "S
 if [ "$rowcount" -eq '0' ] ; then
   # mbox does not exist, build SQL
   # first encrypt password
-  passwd=`doveadm pw -s sha512-crypt -p "$passwd"|sed 's|^{SHA512-CRYPT}||'`
+  passwd=`doveadm -o stats_writer_socket_path= pw -s sha512-crypt -p "$passwd"|sed 's|^{SHA512-CRYPT}||'`
   dbcmd="mysql --defaults-extra-file=$MYSQL_CONNECTION_INFO_FILE -e 'INSERT INTO vm_mboxes SET domain_id=\"$domain_id\", mbox=\"$mbox\", passwd=\"$passwd\""
   if [ -n "$status" ] ; then
     if [ "$status" == 0 ] || [ "$status" == 1 ]; then
diff --git a/install.sh b/install.sh
index 92b2084..33c6b36 100755
--- a/install.sh
+++ b/install.sh
@@ -116,6 +116,7 @@ cp -a etc/dovecot/* /etc/dovecot/
 chgrp dovecot /etc/dovecot/dovecot-sql.conf.ext
 chmod 640 /etc/dovecot/dovecot-sql.conf.ext
 sed -i "s|password=password|password=$VMAILPASS|g" /etc/dovecot/dovecot-sql.conf.ext
+chown -R vmail /etc/dovecot/conf.d/
 if ! [ -d "/usr/local/libexec" ]; then
   mkdir /usr/local/libexec
 fi
diff --git a/update.sh b/update.sh
index 42a1abb..025638f 100755
--- a/update.sh
+++ b/update.sh
@@ -58,6 +58,8 @@ for etc_config in "${etc_configs_array[@]}"; do
     echo
   fi
 done
+# make sure /etc/dovecot/conf.d/ is readable by vmail (needed for encrypting passwords with 'doveadm pw')
+chown -R vmail /etc/dovecot/conf.d/
 
 # update libexec script
 if ! diff -q libexec/vmail-quota-warning.sh /usr/local/libexec/vmail-quota-warning.sh ; then