diff --git a/xfce4-session/xfsm-startup.c b/xfce4-session/xfsm-startup.c
--- a/xfce4-session/xfsm-startup.c
+++ b/xfce4-session/xfsm-startup.c
@@ -193,16 +193,17 @@ xfsm_startup_init_agent (const gchar *cm
 }
 
 
 
 void
 xfsm_startup_init (XfconfChannel *channel)
 {
   gchar       *ssh_agent;
+  gchar       *ssh_agent_socket_path;
   gchar       *ssh_agent_path = NULL;
   gchar       *gpg_agent_path = NULL;
   gchar       *cmd;
   pid_t        agentpid;
   gboolean     gnome_keyring_found;
 
       /* if GNOME compatibility is enabled and gnome-keyring-daemon
        * is found, skip the gpg/ssh agent startup and wait for
@@ -273,17 +274,27 @@ xfsm_startup_init (XfconfChannel *channe
       else
         {
           g_unsetenv ("SSH_AGENT_PID");
           g_unsetenv ("SSH_AUTH_SOCK");
         }
 
       if (ssh_agent_path != NULL)
         {
-          cmd = g_strdup_printf ("%s -s", ssh_agent_path);
+          ssh_agent_socket_path = xfconf_channel_get_string (channel, "/startup/ssh-agent/socket", NULL);
+          if (ssh_agent_socket_path)
+            {
+              /* user requested a specific ssh-agent socket location */
+              cmd = g_strdup_printf ("%s -s -a %s", ssh_agent_path, ssh_agent_socket_path);
+              g_free (ssh_agent_socket_path);
+            }
+          else
+            {
+              cmd = g_strdup_printf ("%s -s", ssh_agent_path);
+            }
           /* keep this around for shutdown */
           running_sshagent = xfsm_startup_init_agent (cmd, "ssh-agent");
           g_free (cmd);
           g_free (ssh_agent_path);
         }
     }
 
   if (G_LIKELY (gpg_agent_path != NULL))