diff --git a/embed/etcd.go b/embed/etcd.go
index 86697c58c..c59cdf083 100644
--- a/embed/etcd.go
+++ b/embed/etcd.go
@@ -522,12 +522,13 @@ func configureClientListeners(cfg *Config) (sctxs map[string]*serveCtx, err erro
 			return nil, fmt.Errorf("TLS key/cert (--cert-file, --key-file) must be provided for client url %s with HTTPs scheme", u.String())
 		}
 
-		proto := "tcp"
+		network := "tcp"
 		addr := u.Host
 		if u.Scheme == "unix" || u.Scheme == "unixs" {
-			proto = "unix"
+			network = "unix"
 			addr = u.Host + u.Path
 		}
+		sctx.network = network
 
 		sctx.secure = u.Scheme == "https" || u.Scheme == "unixs"
 		sctx.insecure = !sctx.secure
@@ -537,7 +538,7 @@ func configureClientListeners(cfg *Config) (sctxs map[string]*serveCtx, err erro
 			continue
 		}
 
-		if sctx.l, err = net.Listen(proto, addr); err != nil {
+		if sctx.l, err = net.Listen(network, addr); err != nil {
 			return nil, err
 		}
 		// net.Listener will rewrite ipv4 0.0.0.0 to ipv6 [::], breaking
@@ -559,8 +560,8 @@ func configureClientListeners(cfg *Config) (sctxs map[string]*serveCtx, err erro
 			sctx.l = transport.LimitListener(sctx.l, int(fdLimit-reservedInternalFDNum))
 		}
 
-		if proto == "tcp" {
-			if sctx.l, err = transport.NewKeepAliveListener(sctx.l, "tcp", nil); err != nil {
+		if network == "tcp" {
+			if sctx.l, err = transport.NewKeepAliveListener(sctx.l, network, nil); err != nil {
 				return nil, err
 			}
 		}
diff --git a/embed/serve.go b/embed/serve.go
index 789921e49..ba85cd0bd 100644
--- a/embed/serve.go
+++ b/embed/serve.go
@@ -50,6 +50,7 @@ type serveCtx struct {
 	lg       *zap.Logger
 	l        net.Listener
 	addr     string
+	network  string
 	secure   bool
 	insecure bool
 
@@ -217,7 +218,14 @@ type registerHandlerFunc func(context.Context, *gw.ServeMux, *grpc.ClientConn) e
 
 func (sctx *serveCtx) registerGateway(opts []grpc.DialOption) (*gw.ServeMux, error) {
 	ctx := sctx.ctx
-	conn, err := grpc.DialContext(ctx, sctx.addr, opts...)
+
+	addr := sctx.addr
+	// explictly define unix network for gRPC socket support
+	if network := sctx.network; network == "unix" {
+		addr = fmt.Sprintf("%s://%s", network, addr)
+	}
+
+	conn, err := grpc.DialContext(ctx, addr, opts...)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}