diff --git a/spec/spec-helper.coffee b/spec/spec-helper.coffee
index d37eeb7a8..4690e981a 100644
--- a/spec/spec-helper.coffee
+++ b/spec/spec-helper.coffee
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@ beforeEach ->
   atom.atomPackageStates = {}
   atom.loadedPackages = []
   spyOn(atom, 'saveWindowState')
+  spyOn(atom, 'getSavedWindowState').andReturn(null)
   $native.setWindowState('')
 
   # used to reset keymap after each spec
diff --git a/src/app/atom.coffee b/src/app/atom.coffee
index 7957db51d..604c15821 100644
--- a/src/app/atom.coffee
+++ b/src/app/atom.coffee
@@ -198,14 +198,22 @@ _.extend atom,
     windowState
 
   getWindowState: (keyPath) ->
-    inMemoryState = $native.getWindowState()
-    inMemoryState = null unless inMemoryState.length > 0
-    windowState = JSON.parse(inMemoryState ? localStorage[window.location.params.pathToOpen] ? '{}')
+    windowState = JSON.parse(@getInMemoryWindowState() ? @getSavedWindowState() ? '{}')
     if keyPath
       _.valueForKeyPath(windowState, keyPath)
     else
       windowState
 
+  getInMemoryWindowState: ->
+    inMemoryState = $native.getWindowState()
+    if inMemoryState.length > 0
+      inMemoryState
+    else
+      null
+
+  getSavedWindowState: ->
+    localStorage[window.location.params.pathToOpen]
+
   saveWindowState: ->
     localStorage[@getPathToOpen()] = JSON.stringify(@getWindowState())