diff --git a/local/recipes/system/redbear-upower/source/src/main.rs b/local/recipes/system/redbear-upower/source/src/main.rs
index 28b9813fab..7b612997f3 100644
--- a/local/recipes/system/redbear-upower/source/src/main.rs
+++ b/local/recipes/system/redbear-upower/source/src/main.rs
@@ -211,7 +211,9 @@ impl PowerRuntime {
     }
 
     fn available(&self) -> bool {
-        self.root.exists()
+        // is_dir() uses stat which misbehaves on Redox schemes; read_dir
+        // is the only reliable existence probe.
+        self.root.read_dir().is_ok()
     }
 
     fn adapter_dir(&self, id: &str) -> PathBuf {
diff --git a/local/recipes/system/thermald/source/src/main.rs b/local/recipes/system/thermald/source/src/main.rs
index 7a38249872..0b9791175f 100644
--- a/local/recipes/system/thermald/source/src/main.rs
+++ b/local/recipes/system/thermald/source/src/main.rs
@@ -534,7 +534,10 @@ fn monitor_loop(shared: Arc<RwLock<ThermalState>>) -> ! {
     let mut warned_missing_surface = false;
 
     loop {
-        if !Path::new(ACPI_THERMAL_ROOT).exists() {
+        // is_dir() / exists() use stat/lstat which return errors on
+        // Redox schemes; read_dir is the only reliable existence probe.
+        let surface_available = fs::read_dir(ACPI_THERMAL_ROOT).is_ok();
+        if !surface_available {
             if !warned_missing_surface {
                 warn!(
                     "{} is unavailable; thermald will keep polling and serve an empty thermal surface",